Permata Hijau
by TB's LMC
Summary: This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all. International Rescue is non-operational and Tracy Corporation is in danger of following suit...
1. Persuasion

_International Rescue is non-operational and Tracy Corporation is in danger of following suit. Tin-Tin has had to make a difficult decision even as those left on Tracy Island have been trying to pick up the pieces left over from recent events. But as those pieces fall into place, it starts becoming clear that the puzzle was never complete to begin with._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "__Diraja Satu__," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgement: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>PERSUASION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>Tin-Tin stepped uncertainly into the grand palace hall. To her left was a raised dais, upon which sat two ancient thrones carved from wood of the Kassod Tree, native to Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka. The beautiful cut of it gave the impression the thrones were made from some sort of hard feather-like substance, which was where the tree got its nickname of Pheasant Wood. The seats and high backs of the thrones were lined with green silk batik in unique patterns that had been specifically commissioned and designed for Sultan Izal, whom Tin-Tin had learned over the past couple of weeks was her great-grandfather. He'd been the first native Malay rajah reinstated after the incorporation of the country of Malaysia in 1963, when the British had ceased formal rule of Sarawak.<p>

She'd learned a lot. A lot more than she ever knew was possible. About her royal heritage, about the history of both the state of Sarawak and Malaysia itself, about the palace in which she and her father had now been living for two weeks. Tin-Tin frowned as she stepped up to the thrones, her hand running down the side and over the arm of that belonging to the male member of the royal family. The batik was soft to her fingers. The exquisite wood finish felt the same, as soft as silk.

Her father. He'd grown much worse. She looked out over the room from the place she had agreed to take on as her own. Today, she would be crowned Sultana of Sarawak. Her father couldn't do it, not in his failing health. Tears sprang to her eyes. It had come to the point where he didn't remember anything about Tracy Island or International Rescue. She'd cried terribly, and fought the urge to do so now as she recalled the conversation not three days before.

"_Father, perhaps it would be best for you to return to Tracy Island." He had seemed perplexed; the look on his face spoke of confusion in his mind. "You know Brains is a genius. If anyone can determine the cause of this illness, he can do it. I know he can." He still did not speak, just stared at her. "Father, I'm certain if I call Mr. Tracy, he'll send one of the boys in a jet immediately."_

_At last, he spoke. "Mr. Tracy?"_

_Her heart had frozen in mid-beat. "Yes," she had replied. "Mr. Tracy." But he still looked lost. "You know, Father, your best friend. Jeff Tracy."_

"_Who," he asked, eyes wide and uncertain, "is Jeff Tracy?"_

It had almost been too much for her to bear. Her father had returned to life through some sort of magickal miracle involving his counterpart from another dimension, only to now be losing everything that made him who he was. It was beyond her understanding, and in his current state, beyond her father's as well.

She moved down off the dais and over to the far wall. The stonework of Sarawak Palace was as ancient as Sarawak itself. And as complex, she noted, running her hand along the intricately carved pictograms, as her own history seemed to be. Tin-Tin had been stunned to learn her father wasn't one hundred percent native Malay at all, but a mix of British, Malay and Arabian ancestry. That's where his given name of Meor had come from. Her grandmother, Nuraisyah, was a direct descendant of Mohammad's only surviving relative, his daughter, Fatima, and Meor indicated a male descendant of the founder of the Muslim religion.

And her grandfather, Mokhtar, once a ruling Rajah of Sarawak, had been killed by her half-uncle, the throne stolen from her family before she'd yet turned five years of age. He had been half British and half Malay, and Nuraisyah had been half Arabian, half Malay. Tin-Tin walked along the wall, not really seeing the stone beneath her hand now. Her father was half Malay, one-quarter Arabian and one-quarter British. And Tin-Tin's own mother had been an American, though she had yet to uncover what exactly Serena Kyrano's heritage had been.

Soon she reached the far corner of the grand ceremony room. There was so much about her own blood that she didn't know. And now she couldn't even ask her father about it because he didn't remember more than bits and pieces of his life. It reminded her of Alzheimer's disease, something she'd learned about extensively, and had even written a thesis paper on. Her theories on using nanotechnology to replace misfiring neurons and degrading pathways had opened the door for new research into curing the dreaded disease she'd investigated as part of her senior engineering coursework.

But she knew that something far more strange was at work. Her father's brain scans had turned up something even the best neurologist in Kuala Lumpur hadn't been able to explain. His exact words still haunted her. _"It's as though his memories are just...erasing themselves." _She came to the large, wooden double doors at the opposite end of the room from the throne. Stopping, she turned to face that throne. The throne she had agreed to take. Soon this room would be full of palace staff setting up the traditional candles and incense burners; cleaning every nook and cranny, preparing for the crowd that was sure to attend the event.

And she would be crowned sultana.

One question nagged her over and over. _Am I doing the right thing?_ Half of her wanted to just abandon the whole thing and head back to the Tracys with her father. She missed them terribly, and knew how difficult things were for them now as they struggled to put both Tracy Corporation and International Rescue back together. She missed her hours in the lab with Brains, and time with the Tracy sons going over and over schematics and designs and plans. Most of all, she missed Alan. Alan, whom she loved.

She could never marry him now. Though her own blood was not of pure Malay ancestry, she had been born into a royal family. As an American, Alan would never be permitted to become her husband. She would have to abdicate the throne to fulfill that dream she'd had for so long. Besides, right now, Alan Tracy hated her.

_You could fix that. Why are you doing this? Your home...your heart...is on Tracy Island._

"Because they need me," she whispered, the soft sound echoing briefly in the cavernous room. Her people...her father's people...they needed her now more than ever. Needed someone who could keep them neutral even as surrounding countries fell into unrest and politically-related killings increased. The mayhem had been quelled in Malaysia itself for the time being, but without someone strong to lead the fight for continued neutrality, there was little doubt the country would easily be swayed into joining with countries like Indonesia and China. Tin-Tin could not let that happen. Many in Malaysia were poor, especially the natives. No one cared about them. If the country became involved in what was happening in other Asian nations, who knew what would become of the Malay people and their way of life?

Mixed though they may have been, Tin-Tin and her father had always considered themselves Malay first and foremost, and the truth was that both their identities were so intertwined with Malaysia, at least in their minds, that every incident, every hint of violence, everything that happened in the country, Tin-Tin felt to her very marrow. She didn't suppose she could ever properly explain it to anyone. It was just something she felt, deep inside. Stepping onto Malay soil, touring the streets of Sibu and other prominent cities in Sarawak had brought Tin-Tin a feeling of coming home that she'd never felt before.

Not that it had been lonely or any less of a home when she and her father lived on Tracy Island. No, they had never felt more loved and welcomed than they had there. But somehow a part of her had always longed for Malaysia. With an invisible tether she had been kept tied to the country of her birth, and now that she had returned, she felt complete. Whole. Like she'd finally come full circle.

_Then why do you cry at night for the one you left behind?_

She walked up the green carpet that led to the dais, slowly practicing the steps she would take in less than six hours' time, to the sound of native music and murmurs of approval from those in the room. What had Badan said? _They know if you take power, you will keep Malaysia neutral._ This, she felt, was the reason her path had come around now and brought her home. Her time in school, her time with the Tracys, her time as part of International Rescue, had all provided her with the training, knowledge and discipline she would need to become ruler of Sarawak. And, if the conditions in the rest of the states did not improve considerably, potentially become ruler of half the country.

"My whole life has led up to this," she said, heading back toward the door to the left of the dais. "It's what I'm meant to do." But her furrowed brow and hesitant step made it clear that even Tin-Tin wasn't certain that what she was doing was right.

And without her father's counsel, for the first time in her life she was flying blindly. Alone. Making decisions in the dark. She walked slowly down the hall toward her spacious bedroom suite, whispered voice repeating, "It's what I'm meant to do."

* * *

><p>Jeff looked out over the vast Pacific Ocean. On his balcony he stood, a towel wrapped around his waist, skin glistening as the remnants of his recent shower reflected the sun's brilliant rays. He glanced at the old wall clock his mother had given to him. Just after 10:15 a.m. He'd begun rising later and later, he noticed. Not good for a man with so much to do. But when you stayed up until 3, 4 or 5 a.m., it went without saying you'd probably be in bed 'til at least 10. He stifled a yawn and tousled his damp hair in the mid-morning breeze.<p>

The island had been so quiet. Quiet because there were no rescues. They'd turned off the auto-relay to Five. None of them could bear listening to the calls for help that they could not answer. True to his word, Ned Cook had been deflecting media attention away from the fact that Tracys had been injured at the same time International Rescue had disappeared. So far, so good on that front. He'd spoken to Ned frequently during their first week home. Only once this week so far, and it was nearly the beginning of the third week.

Quiet because half of his family was gone. Alan, Gordon and John were scouting the new locations for Tracy Corporation. They had long ago agreed it would no longer be New York City. The land where Tracy Tower had once stood would be dedicated to all those who had lost their lives with a beautiful monument that John and Scott had designed together. Jeff had to smile. The hours those two had spent coming up with the thirty-story monument had been the most harmonious he thought he'd ever heard them share. Two more days and the boys would be ready for him to join them. They'd update him, give him their recommendations and let him make the final decision. And then the building would begin.

Quiet because Brains, Scott and Virgil had been spending every waking hour in Brains' laboratory drawing up schematics for the new Thunderbirds One, Two and Four. They'd sent teams of agents out to the crash sites for both aircraft only to find that Tin-Tin had done a remarkably efficient job of hiding anything that could identify the remnants as more than just downed nondescript planes. He'd never been more proud of her than the moment the reports had come in telling him as much.

His face fell and his heart suddenly felt like it weighed twenty more pounds. Placing his hands on the railing, he leaned forward on his arms for support, looking down at the leafy foliage and lava rock below his balcony. Quiet because of the loss he felt most deeply of all. The Kyranos had been gone for two weeks now. Two long weeks which Jeff had filled with monuments and schematics, plans and job offers, buildings and parts. Rebuilding his corporation. Rebuilding his Thunderbirds. Rebuilding International Rescue. Rebuilding himself.

But some parts of you just couldn't be rebuilt.

Lady Penelope had left earlier in the week, begging time away for concerns on her own side of 'the pond,' as she called it. Jeff really hadn't had much time for her, but she'd been so busy on the vidphone with contacts around the world trying to verify the death of the Hood that she'd barely had time to talk to him, either. When she wasn't investigating, she was offering some new ideas to Brains for the Thunderbirds that came from her years in the field of spy work. Oftentimes he'd catch her looking at him as he walked by or as they worked side-by-side to update International Rescue's list of agents and locations.

But right now, he could offer her nothing, and even with the silence he'd given her, he somehow thought she understood. Looking down at his chest, stomach and legs, he noted with satisfaction that the healthy diet he'd finally begun on combined with at least an hour a day working out with Virgil had done the trick in getting him physically back on the road to becoming the strong, virile man he'd once been.

But Virgil's weights and Penny's demure looks across a room couldn't help Jeff repair his heart and soul. He hadn't realized until after Kyrano's departure exactly how much he'd come to depend on him for more than keeping the household running smoothly. Any time something was on his mind, Kyrano would always know and seek him out. And, more often than not, would somehow get it out of him, get Jeff to talk about it and give gentle advice that steered him in the right direction without sounding like he was preaching.

He'd always had that way of helping Jeff whether he wanted the help or not.

But now there wasn't anyone seeking him out and saying, "I know there is much on your mind." Now that source of strength and solace was gone, and it left an aching hole in Jeff's psyche. He knew what had happened in Manhattan wasn't his fault. He'd come to terms with the fact that what had happened had happened, and he was no longer blaming himself. The loss of the employees, all those people...Jeff closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt that as keenly as he would've if he'd known each and every one of them by name.

Rosemary. God, how he missed her. She'd been so essential to him, to his family. To Tracy Corp and International Rescue. She'd known who they were. Known their secret. It was Rosemary who kept everything together. Jeff would laugh when someone would mention his "secretary," for she'd always been so much more. Right there with him from the beginning, she was as much a part of Jeff's family as his own sons. And yet she was, presumably, dead, just like all the others. So many innocent lives lost. So many that International Rescue couldn't hope to save.

International Rescue. Down. Not operating. For the first time in six years, dead in the water. Just yesterday, a 7.7 earthquake had rocked Japan. They could do nothing to help. Three days prior, a cruise ship went down eighty miles north of Hawaii. Hundreds died. The week before that, just after their return to the island, a monorail had gone out of control and wound up wrecking four buildings in downtown Los Angeles. Nothing he, or his sons, could do. It was heartbreaking to watch their faces as they listened to Ned reporting on the latest disaster. But the only words he ever spoke about IR in those broadcasts were at the end of the report. Always the same. "We can only hope that International Rescue will return to us. For without them, we die."

Ruth had gone to the States to visit her sister, who was in failing health. Jeff fervently hoped his Aunt Mamie wouldn't die any time soon. She was his mother's last surviving sibling, and she loved Mamie dearly. On top of everything else, Ruth didn't need that. Even with Scott, Virgil and Brains on the island, Jeff felt more than just a little lonely. What had his mother said to him once in the middle of the night? He remembered all four earthbound sons had gone out on a rescue, along with both Tin-Tin and Brains. Alan had been manning Five, and Kyrano had taken a trip to Sydney to do some shopping for necessities. She'd come shuffling into the Lounge, taken one look at him and said, "It's lonely at the top, isn't it, Jeff?"

At the time, he hadn't understood why she'd said it. Now, though, he did. He'd delegated as his body recovered from broken vertebrae, as he exercised and got himself back into shape enough to be able to walk from one end of the villa to the other without twisting and gasping in pain. All that delegation had left him pretty much alone. In his study, at his desk in the Lounge...no matter where he was, he was acutely aware of how much he and his family had lost, and how much further south his own state of mind was moving.

But Jeff had been brought up to believe that a man helped himself. His father, Grant, had drilled one thought into his head over and over and over again. "When the locusts hit, you reach down, grab your bootstraps and pull yourself back up, son." Never one to ask for help unless there was absolutely no other choice, Grant Tracy had that kind of stubborn independence that drove you crazy but made you admire him more than anyone else in the world. At least, that's how it had made Jeff feel. He knew he'd disappointed his father by not following in his footsteps, but Jeff had known from an early age that he just didn't want to be a farmer for the rest of his life. Chores while he was living at home, he could handle. Having to get up at 4 a.m. every day forever to milk cows, having to worry about storm clouds on the horizon every time a ripe wheat field was sitting there at the mercy of hail and hard rain...it just wasn't Jeff's mug of cocoa, as his mother used to say.

"_Isn't it 'cup of tea,' Mother?"_

"_You drink tea all you want, Jeff. I'm a cocoa girl myself."_

He chuckled, realizing that he'd been standing there for nearly thirty minutes. His skin and hair had completely dried as the sun climbed ever-higher in the sky. He turned, pulling his towel away and crossing the room to the bathroom to hang it up. First, he'd get dressed. Then he'd check in with John, Gordon and Alan who were presently in Kansas staying at the old family farm while they scouted the proposed headquarters site near Rocky Ford. Close to Tuttle Creek State Park and the Big Blue River, it was a pleasant location, and Jeff liked the fact that it was in his home state. It would mean visits to HQ were also visits home. And Kansas was pretty inexpensive, especially out that far. It would do wonders for the local economy, and he was looking forward to joining his sons there in a couple of days.

After that call would come a check-in with Penny over in England. It was around 11:45 p.m. there, but he knew Penelope would still be awake. As much of a hard time as she'd given Jeff about being a workaholic, it was very nearly a case of the proverbial pot and kettle. Once Penny had something in mind, it was impossible to get her to let go of it. And she was hell-bent on proving that the Hood was dead once and for all. An assurance that right now, they _all_ needed.

Jeff rummaged through his dresser drawers until he found a pair of comfortable shorts. A look in his closet found him an old Air Force tee shirt, which he quickly slipped over his head. Running a hand through his hair one more time, he took a good look at himself in the mirror. _Not looking too bad_, he thought. _For a man with the world to rebuild._

Two worlds, actually. One public, one not-so-public. A family that had been through more than most people had in a lifetime. Family members that were gone. He wondered about the Kyranos, about how they were doing. So lost in his own sadness over missing them, he'd not even attempted to contact them once. An e-mail had come from Tin-Tin earlier in the week. Polite and business-like, she had explained that she would be taking the throne in Sarawak, and that her father would be staying on as her advisor. The news had cut Jeff to the quick. Deep inside, he realized, he'd been secretly hoping they _wouldn't_ stay there.

"Selfish bastard," he muttered, sliding a pair of flip-flops onto his feet. "Jeff Tracy, you are nothing but a selfish bastard."

A selfish bastard who missed his best friend desperately. He sighed heavily as the door to his suite hissed open.

_Damn._

* * *

><p>Kyrano looked at himself in the mirror. He knew his name. He knew where he was. And he knew that today his daughter would be crowned queen. A princess for barely a fortnight, she was today going to take on a role he'd never dreamed she'd have to. His pride in his daughter was, however, overshadowed by his concern for her.<p>

And for himself.

He knew something was desperately wrong. His past came to him only in snatches of conversation, in mini-movies that half the time he did not understand. He couldn't remember Tin-Tin's mother's name. Or he couldn't remember the village where he'd been born and raised. Or he couldn't remember what he'd been doing for the past fifteen years. He knew it upset Tin-Tin. Hell, it upset _him_. But there was nothing he could do. She'd suggested he meditate. He couldn't remember how. She'd suggested he see a medical doctor. And so he had, to no avail. And she'd suggested some island somewhere. Then, when he didn't recognize the name she was giving him, she'd run from the room crying.

What was that name again? Jeff? Yes, that was it. Jeff...Something. He couldn't even remember _that_. He felt incomplete. Alone. Like he'd been hit over the head and was suffering from amnesia. She'd said he'd died and come back to life. Impossible as that seemed, he couldn't verify it as truth or fabrication. He just didn't _remember_.

But there was one thing...rather, one _man_...that he _did_ remember. A man who frightened him. A man he knew was his own half-brother. He looked at the face in the mirror and touched his fingertips to his cheek. It was like looking at someone you didn't recognize. You knew it was _supposed_ to be you, but you had nothing save the face looking back at you in the mirror to verify that it really was.

Kyrano closed his eyes. He had to keep himself together, if only for today. He had to make the appearance in front of the crowds of people so that his daughter would have her wish – a coronation that went off without incident. He had to remember what to say and when to say it, and he would symbolically place the white turban with the beautiful green gem upon her head. Then it would be done, and he could continue to lose himself in the privacy of his own suite.

His own suite that he didn't know. It didn't feel like home, but he supposed that's because it never _had_ been his home until recently. If only he could remember. If only he could understand the gaping holes in his mind. If only he could help his daughter now when she needed him the most. _But I cannot_, he thought as his eyes slowly opened. He fully expected to see that face again..._his_ face...looking back at him in the mirror.

And it _was_ there. But it wasn't alone.

He gasped as his eyes took in the visage returning his gaze. Jumping backward, he couldn't take his eyes from it. From _him_. He knew that face. He doubted even with his loss of memory that he would ever be able to forget it.

"Radzi," he whispered.

He didn't understand. Why...was he reflecting his brother? Tin-Tin had told him Gaat was dead. Repeatedly, she had told him this. Kyrano whirled around, but there was no one else with him in the gigantic bedroom. He turned back to the mirror, but the face of his half-brother was gone. Once again, he saw only himself.

"Why?" he whispered. Why would he be seeing Radzi now? In his own reflection?

Suddenly memories returned. Lying on the floor, writhing in pain. Collapsing in a garden, crying out, "No, no, no!" What if Radzi _were_ dead? If he'd had the power to invade Kyrano's mind when he was alive, who's to say his power would not be even greater in death thanks to the pact he'd made with Evil? Kyrano stepped forward and touched the mirror with his fingertips. Still, his own reflection remained.

"He is coming," Kyrano thought as he stepped back once more. "He means to take me, take my body." He turned and looked around the opulent suite, then back at the mirror again. "If he takes me, my daughter is as good as dead. I must leave. I _must_!"

With that, he moved across the room to his closet and began pulling various articles of clothing out.

"I have to leave," he whispered, folding the clothes neatly into a suitcase. "My daughter is not safe."

_But what of her coronation?_

Kyrano closed his eyes as he finished zipping up the suitcase. He fell onto the bed in a sitting position, hanging his head dejectedly.

_Tin-Tin's finest moment. I cannot miss it._

But he would leave, after the ceremony. If he didn't...that face in the mirror...Radzi would claim him. And after him, Tin-Tin. And then Sarawak and Malaysia and any other countries his half-brother deemed worthy of his time and effort.

Yes, the only choice he could see would be to leave. Perhaps if he traveled to the Snake Temple on the island of Penang he would find whatever it was he needed to become whole again. He couldn't remember whether or not he practiced Buddhism, but it didn't really matter because what he needed was a way to get himself back, and do it away from this palace.

Kyrano turned and looked into the mirror once more. He also wished he remembered this person Jeff that his daughter had told him was his best friend. Because right now, he sure could've used a best friend.

* * *

><p>"Where'd Brains go?"<p>

Virgil turned and looked up from his seat at one of several drafting tables as his brother entered the lab. "He said he had to check on that little experiment he's running on the other side of the island."

Scott grinned. "I don't get why he won't let us in on the secret."

Virgil shrugged. "You know Brains." Scott handed him a bottle of water. "Thanks," he said, taking it and chugging half of it down in one go.

Coming around to stand just behind his younger brother, Scott looked over Virgil's shoulder at the new blueprint he was working on. "Same design, but updated. So you're not trying to completely recreate Two, huh?"

Virgil elbowed him. "Ha ha, very funny."

"What, I'm serious!" Scott laughed as he took a seat at the drafting table right next to him. "Every time I draw a line, I wonder if I'm just trying to reinvent the wheel. So I erase it and start all over again, and it still comes out the same."

Virgil's finger traced the outline of the cockpit panel he was in the middle of creating on the large, white paper in front of him. "Well, you know what they say. Why mess with perfection?"

With that, Virgil picked up his pencil and started filling in certain monitors and buttons, keypads and gauges that he wanted on what would end up being Thunderbird Two's new control panel. There were several minutes of silence. Suddenly he got the weird feeling he was being watched, and looked up to find Scott's eyes boring into him. "What?"

"We never...I mean, we haven't..." Scott sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I think we need to talk about what happened."

"What happened?" Virgil swallowed hard. He couldn't...he didn't _want_ to talk about it. Not with Scott. How could he? How could he look his Scott in the eye and describe what it felt like to lose another Scott somewhere across space and time? "C'mon, Virg. I'm assuming I...or rather, _he_...fell off the gantry and died."

"That's right," Virgil responded, his voice sounded nothing less than strangled.

"Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

Scott calmly laid a hand on Virgil's right arm, effectively impeding his ability to continue with his schematics. "Tell me about the other me. Was he exactly the same as I am?"

Virgil sighed and laid his pencil down, half-turning on the stool to face Scott. "No. He wasn't."

"How was he different?"

Virgil shook his head and looked away.

"Come on, Virg, _tell_ me."

"Why do you want to know?" Virgil asked, rising to his feet. "He's gone, it doesn't matter."

"Well, when you find out you have a counterpart in another dimension, and find out at the same time that he's dead, it makes you curious."

Virgil sighed again, his back now facing his brother. "He was...darker. Unhappy. Gaunt."

Scott frowned, also rising to his feet. "You're just giving adjectives, Virg."

Virgil whirled on him. "He wasn't you, Scott. I mean, he was, but...he _wasn't._ You know, he...I think he actually contemplated jumping from the gantry on purpose."

Scott's eyes widened. "I contemplated suicide?"

"Not you!" Virgil ground out vehemently. "_Him!_"

Scott nodded. "So...his death wasn't accidental."

"Yes, it was! He decided not to, he'd turned and...and then Ben came out, and I..."

"Ben?" Scott blinked. "Who's Ben?"

Virgil collapsed onto a nearby stool. "Our brother."

"What?"

Virgil finally looked up, directly into Scott's eyes. "He was our brother. You know, John's twin. Only over there, they weren't born conjoined. They were fraternal, and Ben lived."

"But you didn't."

Virgil shrugged and shook his head. "I never saw exactly how or why I died, but no, I didn't." Scott watched as Virgil's eyes seemed to turn inward, as though he were watching something inside his own mind. "He remembered me. Lying in his hospital bed, Father had just..." He swallowed hard. "Father had died, and Scott was lying there, and...he told Father to say hi to Mom...and to me."

Scott watched Virgil's face soften, watched the emotions play across the eyes he knew so well. He stepped forward, but didn't touch him.

"I know he heard me, too. One time he woke up in his hospital bed yelling, "Not dead, not dead!" and that's when I knew I wasn't really dead."

"You thought you were dead."

Virgil nodded. "Yes. It was the only thing that made sense at the time. I had no idea I was still alive over here on this side. All I knew was that I couldn't pick anything up, and I had to wish myself places in order to get there. I could walk on top of water, out in mid-air. Things around me weren't real, and yet...they were almost _too_ real."

Scott reached out and squeezed his brother's forearm.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be yelling and screaming at someone, but no matter what you do, you can't get their attention? To only be able to stand there while Brains does CPR on your father, only to watch him give up and cry because he can't revive him? To reach out and try to catch your brother when he falls, only to be able to hover and see his body hit the concrete...?" Virgil's voice broke and he looked up into Scott's eyes. "I don't ever want to feel that way again. I can't, Scott. I had to watch you die. I could do nothing. _Nothing_!"

Scott moved forward and wrapped his arms around his brother, felt Virgil's arms wrap around him. "But you changed things," he whispered. "You saved me."

Virgil's arms squeezed him tighter. "I can't watch you die again."

"You won't have to," Scott replied, pulling back until their eyes could lock together. "I promise you, Virg."

Virgil shook his head. "You can't make promises like that."

"Listen, I don't understand all this about there being another dimension with our family in it. But what I do know is that you saved my life. It has to have been for a reason." Virgil had looked away, but Scott grabbed his chin and forced his eyes back onto him. "Right?"

Virgil half-smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"Okay," Scott nodded, extricating himself from his brother's arms. "Now let's get back to work. Dad's expecting these first drafts by EOD."

Virgil nodded and the brothers took their seats behind their respective drafting tables. "You'll have to tell me about Ben," Scott said as he picked up his pencil. "I've always wondered what he would've been like."

"He's a Tracy," Virgil smiled, shrugging. Then his look morphed into a frown. "He's the one who called your name. You were distracted and lost your balance."

Scott looked up.

"That's why I hesitated before I came after you. I thought, Ben's my replacement, and he startled _his_ Scott, and _his_ Scott fell. What if I whirl around on the wall and startle you and cause _you_ to fall?"

"Well, you didn't," Scott replied as he elbowed Virgil's ribs. "And now you've got me owing you." He was grateful when his brother's mood improved considerably.

"That's right, you do," Virgil replied, winking. "And look out, Scott. Because payback's a bitch."

Scott laughed and turned back to his cross-section of Thunderbird One's tail fins. He'd no doubt Virgil would make him pay but good. He was looking forward to every minute.

Because it meant he was _alive_. And though he would never let Virgil see it, the thought that his closest brother had had to watch him die made him almost physically ill. He stole a glance up at him, and found him to be deep into engineering-mode again. It hadn't been him who'd died in front of Virgil, but somehow he felt...responsible for it. For making Virgil go through that. And he was bound and determined to make up for the pain he'd seen in Virgil's eyes. If it took him the rest of his life, he thought, he'd make it up to him. Somehow.

* * *

><p>Kyrano moved through the ceremony as though nothing more than an automaton. And truly, was he anything more than that? He watched his child, grown into a woman and more beautiful than all the gems in the world, walk down the aisle and take the sultan's turban on her head. Said his words as memorized over the last week. Noted that her eyes did not meet his once. And reconfirmed for himself that after this he would leave. Tin-Tin would be kept busy for hours with the coronation ball. Undoubtedly many men would seek to dance with her, and then would come the advisors and the business of running the state.<p>

But by the time the ball had ended, Kyrano would be long gone. He would travel by horse as a peasant. He would not be stopped, nor paid any attention at all in the peasant's clothes he had obtained. It was a long way to the port, where he would take a skiff to the island of Penang. And there, he would find himself. And as it ended, as the court burst into applause, as Tin-Tin raised the royal scepter into the air, Kyrano inwardly wept. _Good-bye, my daughter_, he thought as he slipped through a door behind the dais. _Good-bye._

* * *

><p>News of the coronation was reported on NTBS the next day. Somewhere in the back of Jeff's mind, it niggled away that it hadn't been Ned Cook doing the reporting. But his heart was full of sorrow as pictures of the event were shown. He saw Kyrano standing there, watched the photos taken as Tin-Tin became a queen. It was official. They would never be coming back now. He looked up when a hand was placed on his shoulder.<p>

"Father, it's time for us to take you Stateside."

Jeff nodded. "My luggage."

"In the jet," Scott advised, casting a sidelong glance at Virgil. "You okay?"

Jeff just nodded and turned, heading toward the elevator in the hall. Virgil's look of concern mirrored his older brother's as both moved to the balcony. "I don't know, Scott. You think he really is okay?"

"He'll get over it, I guess. He just misses him."

"I keep wondering if Alan's going to get over Tin-Tin as easily."

Scott shook his head. "I don't know. I used to just think it was Alan being flirtatious, but now I'm not so sure."

"You think he really loves her?"

Scott shrugged as they made their way down the long, curved staircase that led to the pool. They skirted its edge and made their way along the beach toward the tarmac. "I suppose even if he does, it can't go anywhere now. Father said a Malay sultana couldn't marry a native from another country."

They walked along in silence until the tarmac came into view. The jet's engines were already running, and it had been taxied out of the hangar. "You ever feel like your world's spinning out of control-?"

"And you have no way to stop it?" Scott finished for him. Virgil nodded and Scott sighed. "Every goddamn day, Virg. Every goddamn day."

* * *

><p>And so the day passed into weeks, which passed into months. Before any of them knew it, six months had passed since Tin-Tin had been crowned, and from all accounts she'd been doing well in her new role. Construction had begun both on a new set of office buildings for Tracy Corporation in Rocky Ford and the memorial to the victims of the Tracy Tower collapse in Manhattan. Everyone they'd needed had been hired and trained, for the most part. Things were picking back up for the companies and Jeff couldn't have been more pleased with the hard work put in by his family and their friends and agents the world 'round.<p>

Even the Thunderbirds were on their way to making a comeback. The new Thunderbird 1's entire body was finished. Brains and Virgil were now working on everything that went inside it. In the meantime, Scott was keeping busy getting all the parts they needed for Thunderbird 2, as Gordon had been doing for the new Thunderbird 4. John, Alan and Jeff had been away more than they'd been home, but their tireless efforts were finally beginning to pay off.

They say time heals all wounds. But the truth is that time only masks them. For those unwilling or unable to go through the pain of repairing the wound, it will continue to lie open. Bandaged, perhaps, maybe even well enough that the world doesn't realize it's still there. But it festers and goes even deeper, and before you know it, it has spread so vastly that the damage can be irreparable.

Such was very nearly the case with several members of the Tracy family. Aunt Mamie had died, and Ruth had decided to stay in Kansas to be near what was left of Mamie's family. Brains looked more and more withered each time Jeff saw him, and Jeff himself was finding it harder and harder to move past the events of the last year. Virgil's moods had grown darker as he fought his own demons, and Scott was at the end of his rope about it.

It was then that the message came from Malaysia. Nothing but two short sentences, but they were words that tore the bandages from the wounds Jeff had been desperately trying to hide. MY FATHER HAS DISAPPEARED. PLEASE HELP ME. Further inquiries had given them more facts about the situation. Apparently, Kyrano hadn't been seen or heard from since the night of Tin-Tin's coronation. The royal army had searched the entire state of Sarawak and most of Malaysia, but had found no sign of the man that was to have been their king. And now, in desperation, Tin-Tin was turning to the one man she thought could put things right. After all, Jeff Tracy had always been able to fix everything. Always.

It was for these reasons that Jeff now found himself entering Alan's bedroom. It was spotless. He hadn't been back on the island for more than six hours. Alan and John had just returned from another round of business matters, and Jeff knew he'd find his youngest son here. What he didn't expect was to find Alan asleep on the floor, propped up against the patio windows and holding a picture. A picture that, when he took it from Alan's hands, he discovered was of his son and Tin-Tin. Jeff knew Virgil had taken the picture atop the island's mountain.

_Happier times_, he thought as he noted the wide smiles on their faces, the brilliant sparkle in their eyes. Jeff knelt down on one knee and gently shook his sleeping son. "Alan," he said softly. "Alan, wake up."

Alan's eyes blinked open and he yawned. "Dad? What are you doing in here?"

"I used the override, Alan. I'm sorry, but someone needs your help."

"Who?"

Jeff took the photo and turned it around until it was facing Alan. He just looked up at his father for a moment until understanding dawned. Then he sprang to his feet and shook his head, pacing back and forth in front of the patio doors. "Oh, no. No way, Dad."

"Son, she needs you. Now more than ever."

"Uh-uh. She gave me up. Remember?"

"No, Alan. She didn't give you up."

"The hell she didn't," he spat, whirling on his father. "I told her I wanted to marry her, Dad. _Marry_ her! That I was going to get a ring and ask her...and she just _threw_ it in my face. That damn country was more important to her then, let _it_ help her now!"

Jeff was momentarily surprised by the vehemence in Alan's voice. But he supposed he shouldn't be. Not really. His mouth hung open slightly as Alan turned his back on him, looking out over the Pacific but seeing nothing through the haze of anger. Of pain. Marry her? Alan wanted to _marry_ her? All this time and Jeff had had no idea. He'd thought Alan would get over Tin-Tin. That in time he'd move on and find someone else, someone who didn't have a throne as part of her dowry.

But no. Alan wasn't getting over it. Because Alan had finally grown up, Jeff realized. He observed the taut neck and shoulders, the slight shaking that told him all Alan wanted to do right now was punch somebody's lights out. Jeff wondered if he was prepared to be the one who took the brunt of Alan's feelings, but he understood that if he didn't act now, two things were certainly going to happen: Alan was going to explode and then Alan was going to _im_plode.

He remembered the emotions well. Boiling just beneath the surface after someone you loved was taken from you by unseen forces. Tin-Tin wasn't dead, but as Sultana of Sarawak, to Alan she might as well be. He knew about wanting to hit something, wanting to strangle someone. He knew about shaking your fist at the heavens and shouting WHY? at the top of your lungs. He'd done it when Lucy had died. He'd done it after the New York building had been toppled. And he was seeing his youngest go through the same motions.

"Son," he began haltingly. What should he say? What _could_ he say? _Start with the truth._

Alan didn't respond. He just stayed in position looking out of the window as the sun began to set.

"Alan, Kyrano's missing."

Alan's head moved a fraction of an inch.

"We got a message. He disappeared six months ago. I...I have to go look for him."

"What, _now_?" Alan asked, exasperated, as he turned to face his father. "But _why_? Kyrano left you and this family as surely as Tin-Tin did! You don't owe them _anything_!"

"You're wrong, Alan. It's taken me all this time to realize it, but I _do_ owe the Kyranos something. Hell, we _all_ do."

Alan just snorted and made as if to turn around again, but Jeff stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He braced himself for a fist to his jaw, but none was forthcoming. Still, Alan wouldn't look at him, his eyes glued to the floor.

"Kyrano's protected us all these years, Alan."

He grunted. "Protected his _daughter_, you mean."

"Yes. But us, too. _All_ of us. And Tin-Tin was invaluable to International Rescue. Not to mention the fact that she kept the Hood from getting his hands on Thunderbirds One and Two."

Alan didn't even blink.

"I know you're angry with Tin-Tin. I know you think she chose Malaysia over you, and in a way, you're right. But imagine being faced with a choice like that, Alan. You, of all people, understand the choices we have to make in life. You and your brothers gave up your own independent lives to become International Rescue." Alan looked up at him. "Didn't you?"

"Yeah. But that's not the same. We weren't in love at the time."

Jeff shook his head. "That's not true. Both Scott _and_ Virgil and, I suspect, John as well, had someone out there in the world. Someone they each gave up for life here on Tracy Island. A secret life they couldn't share with anyone."

"I didn't know that," Alan whispered.

"I know. And I know things have been damn hard over this last year. And I know that you love Tin-Tin a great deal. Anybody can see that."

"Anybody except her," he sulked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I don't think Tin-Tin's blind, Alan. I think she's torn. She has an obligation to fulfill, one she was born into." Jeff sat down next to him on the bed as a myriad of things suddenly became clear to him. "Kind of like the one _you_ were born into." Alan's eyes locked with his. "As members of the Tracy family, I guess all five of you boys felt obligated to become International Rescue. My selfishness has kept you from enjoying the lives you were meant to live."

"Dad, what's to say _this_ isn't the life I was meant to live? Here with you, with International Rescue?"

"But what's to say it _is_?"

Alan arched an eyebrow. "What are you saying, Father?"

"You know, I did the same thing." Jeff gave him a knowing look. "If I had done what I felt obligated to do, I would've been a wheat farmer right now. And so would all of you."

"But you didn't. You went into the Air Force."

He nodded. "And to the Moon. And built Tracy Corp and then International Rescue."

"You followed your heart."

Jeff looked up at the ceiling and collected his thoughts, which very nearly refused to be collected. He recognized a need in his son. A very deep need, one that he had no right ignoring. Not with any of his boys. Whatever decision Alan made, he vowed it wouldn't come between them the way his had come between himself and his own father, Grant.

"Alan, Tin-Tin needs you."

"No. She needs _you_ to find her father."

Jeff looked him in the eye. "Her _father_ needs _me_. _She_ needs _you_."

"Did she ask for me?"

"No. Not in so many words. But look." Jeff took the paper he'd printed her message on out of his pocket and handed it to him. "Read between the lines."

Alan read it and shook his head, squeezing his eyes closed. "I love her, Dad. I love her more than anything in the whole world. I miss her so _much_."

Jeff squeezed his shoulder. "Then I think it's high time you proved that."

"How?"

Sighing, it took a moment for Jeff to reply. "Kyrano always says your destiny is molded by your heart."

"That's a bit flowery," Alan chuckled.

"Yes, it is. But he also says that if you don't follow your heart, you'll never know your true destiny." Alan looked at him quizzically. "I think it's high time you stopped feeling obligated and started following your heart. Don't you?"

Jeff stood. It was time for Alan to make his own decision. As he moved to walk out of the bedroom, he was startled to feel a hand on his arm. He was even more surprised to find himself enveloped in a strong hug. And the whispered, "Thank you, Dad," in his ear made a lump form in his throat. He returned the hug and patted his son on the back.

"One hour," Jeff said gruffly as he pulled away. "Be in Two's hangar."

"F.A.B.," Alan said softly, staring at the message again.

Jeff smiled before leaving the suite. As he headed down the hall to his own suite, he knew once and for all that his baby boy was all grown up. And what he'd just done might very well mean Alan wouldn't be sticking around. But, Jeff finally realized as his door hissed open, it was Alan's choice to make. His heart was heavy at the thought of what might happen, but he knew he was doing the right thing for Alan. And for Tin-Tin.

Now all he had to do was find Kyrano.

* * *

><p>All Tracys had returned to the island at Jeff's request. He wanted none of them out there alone in his absence.<p>

"Father, you can't leave now. We have our first board meeting next week!"

"John," Jeff said, standing face-to-face with his son on the hard concrete floor of Two's hangar, "I have complete faith that you can handle that."

John's face morphed from a look of concern to one of disbelief. "Alone?"

"Yes," Jeff confirmed. "Alone." He smirked as John's brow knitted. "It's what you've wanted for a long time, isn't it? To man the helm as John Tracy instead of as Jeff Tracy's sidekick?"

"Sidek-?" John rolled his eyes and burst out laughing. "You're serious!"

"I am," Jeff smiled, reaching his hand out. "If this is what you want, then do it."

"It _is_ what I want, Dad." John smiled and shook his head, unable to believe his ears. "It is."

Jeff nodded as they shook hands, then he pulled John into a hug. "I'll keep in contact as best I can. But I'm not returning without Kyrano."

"You don't know how long you'll be gone?" Scott asked as he and Virgil stepped forward.

"No, son. I have no idea where Kyrano is. But whatever I do, I won't rest until I find him." Jeff cleared his throat as his sons all stared at him. "Scott, you're in charge of Base. Virgil, you're in charge of anything and everything having to do with the new 'birds as well as the more technical projects the Corp is handling." He turned to Gordon. "And what is it _you_ want to do, Gordon?"

"Excuse me?"

"I said, what is it _you_ want to do?"

"I...uh, well, that is, I...uh..." Gordon's face turned beet red. "I don't know."

"Well, when you figure it out," Jeff chuckled, "let me know. Until then, you're in charge of the new Thunderbird Four, as well as equipment testing. I also want you to help John out." Gordon groaned. "Just for now," Jeff quickly added. "When I get back, things will be different." He looked at each of them in turn. Strong, handsome, accomplished men, all of them. "I promise you they'll be different."

With that, he turned and climbed into Tracy One, where Alan was already waiting in the passenger seat. They both waved to those they were leaving behind as Jeff revved up the jet. Within minutes, they'd taxied and taken off. Scott couldn't help but smile as the jet made a single rollover, then disappeared into the night sky.

"I wonder what he meant about things being different," Virgil mused as the four boys headed down along the beach.

"Dunno," Gordon shrugged. "But I can tell you that's the first time that man has ever asked me what I wanted to do."

"That was a shocker," John agreed. "What _do_ you want to do?"

Gordon looked down at the sand as they trudged along. "Dive," he said simply.

"That's our aquanaut," Scott grinned, grabbing Gordon's head and rubbing his fist along the top of it.

"Hey, stop that!" Gordon cried, wriggling out of it. He got away and took off for the front of the villa as Scott and John laughed.

But Scott turned to find that Virgil wasn't laughing. John noticed too, and cleared his throat. "I guess I'd better hit the books," he said, giving Scott a meaningful look. "If I'm going to handle that board meeting."

Scott nodded, grateful for his middle brother's observant nature as John loped back toward the house. He then turned his attention back to Virgil, who had seated himself on the beach and was staring off into nothingness. "Virg?"

"Hm?"

"What's eating you?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit. You've been moodier than a woman in menopause."

"Shut up."

Scott reached down to grab his brother's arm, but Virgil swatted his hand away. "What gives?"

"It's none of your business."

"The hell it isn't, Virg. It's eating you alive." When Virgil didn't respond, Scott decided he had to continue. "You never did tell me about Ben, you know."

"Ben?" Virgil repeated. "How do I even know there _was_ a Ben?"

"What do you mean? You _lived_ it, of course there is."

"Just seems like a dream now."

"But it wasn't a dream. It was real. And it fucked you up royally."

Virgil looked up at him, daggers in his eyes as he rose to his feet. "Fucked me _up_?"

"Yes. You haven't been the same since you came back, Virg. Everyone knows it."

"Oh, they do, do they?" Virgil seethed. He turned away from his brother, effectively stopping the conversation as far as he was concerned. The tide had begun to come in and he watched as the water lapped closer and closer to his sandal-clad feet.

"Of course they do. I know _I_ do."

"Don't you ever let anything go?" Virgil asked, his voice low.

"Not when it's something like this," Scott shook his head and moved into his brother's line of sight. "I mean, ever since you returned, you've been withdrawn and your moods have gotten worse and worse—"

"Shut _up_!" Virgil yelled, grabbing Scott's collar in his hand. "Why don't _you_ try thinking your dead? Why don't _you_ watch your father rescue all your brothers and then _die_ right before your eyes?" He shook Scott, who didn't fight back. Virgil let go and started walking toward the roundhouse.

"Oh, no, you don't," Scott muttered, moving to jog after him. "Virgil, please."

"Please _what_?" he asked, coming to a stop but not turning around.

"_Talk_ to me."

Virgil just shook his head, dropping to sit on an outcropping of rock not too far from the villa.

Scott shoved him over and sat down next to him, the two men occupying a space barely large enough for Tin-Tin's small frame. Seconds passed into minutes as the men looked out upon the wet sand and rolling waves.

"I can't imagine what you saw."

"No. You can't."

"Maybe I could if you told me."

"Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Because it fascinates me that there's some other place where we exist. That's why."

"Where you _did_ exist," Virgil corrected morosely.

Scott bumped into his brother. "Come on..."

"No."

"Virgil, dammit-"

Springing to his feet, Virgil began to pace. It was at least a minute before he spoke. Exploded, was more like it. "Why don't _you_ try finding out there's some place where you never fucking _lived_?" He looked at Scott as though waiting for an answer before continuing. "Why don't _you_ fucking stand there in thin air and try to save someone you love so much and watch them smash into a concrete _floor_?"

Scott looked down, his heart feeling as though it had stopped beating. What that must have done to him...

"And why don't _you_ try sleeping every single fucking night with nightmares about the ones you left behind? The ones you couldn't save? The ones who've lost _everything_...and the only thing that separates them from us is a dimensional _wall_!"

With that, Virgil fell back onto the rock, the agony of what he must've been experiencing something Scott couldn't even fathom. Scott steadied him as he teetered on the edge of the small space. "Virgil, I...I'm sorry."

"Night after night I see Dad dead on the floor," Virgil grunted, his voice belying the tears Scott knew were flowing, but could not see in the dark. "Night after night I see you fall. Over and over again, replaying like a fucking movie that I can't switch off."

No, Scott knew he couldn't imagine any of it. What would he do if he had to stand helplessly by while Virgil fell to his death? He'd be torturing himself. And clearly, Virgil was. "Night after night I see Ben. This brother who's so much like us, but so different. Someone we never got to know."

Suddenly it was as though his brother had deflated. Shoulders hunched, he wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed his eyes closed. "They're out there, Scott," he whispered, opening his eyes and looking into the sky. "Millions of stars up there, and we're seeing the same ones they are. They're close enough for us to touch, but far enough away that we never even knew they were there."

He finally looked over at him.

"I saw so many things, learned so many things," Virgil continued, wiping his face on his sleeve. "But I can't stop reliving the horror of seeing you die. I can't help thinking I should've been able to stop it. That I could've done something."

Silence descended upon them. At last, Virgil sighed and spoke. "He...he heard me."

"What?"

"That Scott. He heard me."

"You...said..." Scott hesitated, trying to remember his brother's words. "You said he heard you and was yelling 'not dead.'"

"No. Not then. Out on the gantry. Right before he fell."

"He _heard_ you?"

"He was drunk. He heard me, and I think he saw me. He asked who I was. I told him."

"You told him you were his brother who'd died?"

Virgil nodded. "It's my fault he fell. Not Ben's."

"How?"

"He thought his mind was playing tricks on him. He thought I was...I don't know, just a figment of his imagination, I guess. He was moving to get away from me when Ben opened the wall."

Realization dawned on Scott at last. "That's not your fault. It was Ben who startled him."

"But he was off-balance because of me. I distracted him."

Scott put a hand on Virgil's leg. "It wasn't your fault."

"I killed him," Virgil said, looking Scott square in the eye. "I killed _you_."

"No, Virgil. You didn't kill me. You _saved_ me. Remember? Saved me here in the hangar."

"But he's still dead."

Scott put his hands on Virgil's shoulders and shook him slightly. "But I'm _not_. Stop acting like I am."

Virgil looked up at him and let out a long, slow sigh. "I just can't stop thinking about them. I can't...I can't forget them."

"You don't have to, Virg. You can use what you saw over there to help us over here. You already have." Scott rose to his feet and reached a hand down to his brother.

He reached out and took the offered hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. "I just can't stop seeing you like he was, and now Dad's going off on this mission to find Kyrano...Scott, what if it's going to happen over here anyway? What if, no matter how hard I try, I can't stop it from repeating?"

"But what if you _can_?" Scott wrapped his arm around Virgil's shoulders. "I think you need to stop second guessing yourself." Virgil looked at him for a few seconds, then nodded slowly. "Come on. Let's go."

"Thanks," he said as they started toward the house once more.

* * *

><p>"You think things'll be okay now?" Gordon asked as he and John rested their elbows on the balcony railing of John's room.<p>

John looked back down at where Scott and Virgil were making their way home. "I think so. Looks like oil and vinegar have turned back into salad dressing again."

Gordon covered his mouth and ran back into John's suite, where he finally allowed himself to burst out laughing. "You're sick, you know that? _Sick_!"

John laughed as he sauntered in. "Ah, well, it runs in the family." His next sentence was cut off by the sound of the vidphone ringing. "Now, who the heck is that? Dad already?"

Gordon shrugged as John moved to answer it. The screen came to life, but there was no smiling face upon it. "Penny?" Gordon said, his voice rising in pitch. "What is it?"

Lady Penelope's tear-stained face looked back at them. "It's Sir Jeremy and Jeremiah," she said, sniffling into her handkerchief. "They've been killed. Oh, boys, they've been killed!"

"My God! By who?" John asked.

Penny just shook her head and picked something up that had apparently been lying next to her. She raised it high enough for them to see. John and Gordon both froze, their faces draining of all color.

"No," Gordon breathed. "Oh, God, no."

For what Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward held in her hands, was a discarded mask.

"The Hood," John said, looking at his brother. "Jesus Christ, he's back."


	2. Exclusion

_Jeff and Alan journey to the side of those who have been gone from their island, but never from their hearts. Just as Jeff thinks he might be on the right track concerning Kyrano's disappearance, something happens that brings everything to a screeching halt._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also know__n as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>EXCLUSION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>"Penny, no arguments. I want you and Parker out of England <em>now<em>."

"But surely I could be of assistance-"

"Dead?" Scott interrupted. "You know Dad would never forgive me."

Penny's face hardened. "No, Scott. I don't know that at all."

Virgil's eyes widened and John mock-whistled as Scott stared straight back at her. "Penelope, please. I'm in charge now, and I want you _here_."

"Very well." Her voice was cold. "We shall arrive as quickly as possible. Lady Penelope out."

As soon as the vidphone screen winked out, John let out the whistle that before had been silent. "Whoa, man, I guess there _was_ something between them after all."

"Maybe not," Gordon shrugged. "It could be one-sided. She doesn't really seem like Dad's type."

"What, a leggy, gorgeous blonde?" John asked. Then he looked thoughtful. "You're right. She's more Scott's type."

"_My_ type?" Scott asked, mouth quirked in a half-grin. "I don't think so. She's got Dad written all over her."

"I wonder if _he_ knows that," Virgil said. "So, Scott. What's the action?"

"Action?" John repeated.

"Well, sure. Two of our agents are dead and it's pretty clear who's behind it."

"What are _we_ supposed to do? He's got the upper hand here. If we leave this island, we're definitely not safe."

"Leave the island?" Gordon breathed, looking over at Scott, who immediately caught his line of thought.

"Dad," the four brothers whispered in unison. "Alan."

* * *

><p>The palace was simply made, yet the opulence of its interior was impressive, to say the least. Jeff nodded as he and Alan were led through various rooms and corridors, because he could see Tin-Tin's hand everywhere they looked. She'd obviously been busy doing some interior decorating while at the same time ruling the State of Sarawak. They had been well-received by the palace guards, as their sultana had been expecting them. Well, at least, they'd been expecting Jeff. They'd made Alan show them his driver's license to allow <em>him<em> in. A fact which had soured his already so-so demeanor. At last they reached high wooden double doors. One of the guards opened a door, then closed it, leaving Jeff and Alan out in the corridor with three other guards.

"Some security," Alan said softly.

"She needs it. From what I've gathered over the past few months, Tin-Tin is loved by her people, but not by other governments. Especially now with the impending unification of South Malaysia."

"I...it never occurred to me this would be so dangerous."

Jeff looked at his youngest meaningfully. "I'll bet there's an awful lot you don't know about what Tin-Tin does, son. It's not just about wearing a turban and sitting on a throne."

Alan didn't get the opportunity to reply, for the double doors creaked open and the guard made a gesture for them to enter. Jeff went first, Alan hanging behind as they took in the definite Tin-Tin look the bedroom suite had to it. Pinks and lavenders, lace and chiffon were the order of the day. It almost made Jeff chuckle, because it was exactly how her room back on Tracy Island had looked.

"Your Highness," Jeff said, bowing low at the waist. "Thank you for seeing us."

Alan's eyes grew wide as he stared first at his father, then at Tin-Tin. He never thought he'd seen her look more lovely, and yet somehow she seemed sad as well. He decided it was best not to piss her off first thing, and so followed his father's gesture.

Tin-Tin rose from her large, plush chair and said, "There's no need to bow, Mr. Tracy."

Jeff looked up as Tin-Tin rushed into his arms. He held her tightly. "It's good to see you, Tin-Tin."

"It's good to see you, too."

Jeff saw Alan pretending to ignore them and said into Tin-Tin's ear, "I'm not the only one here, you know."

She backed away and turned to face Alan, who stiffly stared her down. "Your Highness," he nodded.

A hurt look crossed Tin-Tin's face momentarily, and Jeff felt like popping his son in the jaw. Maybe Alan hadn't grown up as much as he'd thought. "Alan," she said evenly. Then she turned her attention to his father. "Mr. Tracy, I don't know how to thank you for coming. I'm so worried about Father. Every day for six long months I've worried myself sick."

"Sick?" Alan repeated, looking alarmed. "You're sick?"

"I'm afraid so," Tin-Tin nodded, returning to her chair. "I haven't been eating well and I've been so busy with affairs of state and trying to direct the search for my father that I've taken quite ill."

Alan took a hesitant step forward, then turned to look at his father. The look in his blue eyes made Jeff's heart ache. He simply nodded, and Alan crossed quickly to the chair. He knelt down before the woman who had always been a princess to him, even before he'd known of her title.

"Tin-Tin, I miss you so much. You're not well here, you need to come home. Please," he pleaded.

"This is my home now, Alan. I cannot leave, especially with Father missing." She reached out and touched his cheek gently. He closed his eyes, nuzzling into her hand, and her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Alan."

"Tin-Tin," Jeff interrupted, "tell me what happened."

Tin-Tin nodded, and Alan grasped her hands in his own. "Father attended my coronation," she began. "He was there throughout it, but the last time anyone recalls seeing him was when the room broke into applause after I was named Sultana. No one informed me, I was so caught up in the well-wishers and subsequent ball that I never noticed he was missing until the ball was almost finished. Then I asked Badan where he was, and Badan said he did not know. It was then that I went to his rooms, only to find them empty. I called for an immediate search of the palace and its grounds, but they found nothing. No trace of him."

Tin-Tin closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, her hands still held tightly in Alan's. "At first light the next morning, I sent three-quarters of my army across Sarawak to search. Of course, the state is full of jungles, so it is nearly impossible to search every corner, but with infrared technology, night vision glasses and the sheer number of men searching, I believe we have covered every inch that can be reached."

"You've been looking for him the entire six months?" Jeff asked.

"Yes," she nodded, reopening her eyes. "Until four days ago when Badan informed me that Sultan Osman of Sabah has decided to give me the title to his state as well."

"_Give_ it to you?" Alan queried. "You've got to be kidding! Why would he just _give_ his throne to you?"

"He is frightened, Alan. Osman is a coward, and always has been. With the threats of violence from Brunei and Indonesia, he's running like a dog with his tail between his legs."

"What kinds of threats, Tin-Tin?"

"Oh, the usual, Mr. Tracy. The Indonesians are part of the Asian Union. They're against the West, and that includes the North American continent, Europe and the former Soviet states. Their countries have been in upheaval for at least a year now."

Jeff shook his head, unable to believe that one so young, one he'd watched transform from a cute little girl to a beautiful and highly intelligent young woman, had so much to bear. "Have you been seen by a doctor for this illness?"

"I have. They insist upon force-feeding me, and upon me being locked here in my suite for at least ten hours a day, ostensibly to get some sleep." Tin-Tin sat forward slightly and looked directly across the room into Jeff's eyes. "But how can I sleep when I don't even know if my father is alive or dead?"

"That's why I'm here, Tin-Tin," Jeff replied, moving forward and taking one of her hands from Alan. "I'm here to find Kyrano and bring him back safe and sound."

She squeezed his hand, then turned her attention to Alan. "And why are _you_ here?" she asked, so softly it was barely heard.

"To take care of you," he said simply.

Jeff allowed them their moment before asking what needed to be asked. "Tin-Tin, what was your father's state of mind when he disappeared?"

Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Alan pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her. "Oh, Mr. Tracy, it was terrible. He'd forgotten most of his past. He'd forgotten my mother and..." She looked at him briefly, then looked away, unable to bear what was next.

"He forgot us, too. Didn't he?"

She nodded, still not raising her eyes. "Yes," she whispered, a choked sob making her body shake.

Jeff swallowed hard. How could his best friend forget him? "What was causing it? Does he have Alzheimer's or something similar?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "He had brain scans from some of the top facilities in Kuala Lumpur. One doctor told me it was as though his memories were erasing themselves."

"No idea of why?"

"I have an idea, but it's so crazy I don't dare mention it to anyone here."

"What is it, Tin-Tin?" Alan asked.

"When the sultan from the other dimension brought him back to life," she said, looking sadly into Alan's eyes. "I believe something went wrong during that transfer of my father's spirit from me back into his body. I don't know why, but it's the only explanation I have."

"So what do we need to do to get his memories back?"

"I don't know," she said. "But I can do nothing if I don't know his whereabouts."

"I'll find him," Jeff said. "Do I have access to everything I need here?"

"Yes, I've told my guards and my statesmen that you are to have free reign of the palace and anything you need while you are my guest."

"Thank you."

"No, Mr. Tracy," she said, smiling. "Thank _you_. Now that you're here, everything will be all right. I just know it."

Jeff smiled and nodded as he exited her suite. He wasn't too keen on the idea that Tin-Tin thought he could do anything at all and be successful at it. Especially when he had no idea where on Earth to start looking for Kyrano. She was putting her faith in him completely. Jeff never liked to fail, but in this? In this, failure wasn't even an option.

So he decided the first order of business was to review everything she'd had done since Kyrano had been discovered missing. Maybe that would give him a clue or two where Sarawak's royal investigators hadn't searched. But even as the guard who'd been assigned to him escorted him to the palace's war room, he had his doubts as to whether or not he'd ever see his best friend alive again. After all, wouldn't he have gotten in contact with his daughter by now if he were still alive?

* * *

><p>At Tin-Tin's request, Alan had helped her remove the traditional royal robes she wore so that she was left clad in nothing but her underwear. He turned as she removed her bra, her whispered, "Okay," turning him back to face her. She had managed to cover herself with a sheet, and he thought to pull her rose pink blanket and similarly colored comforter over her as well. But as he moved to do so, her small, frail hand upon his arm stopped him in mid-motion.<p>

"Tin-Tin, let me cover you up. You need to stay warm."

"I would be warmer if you were in here with me."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"You heard me," she teased, that familiar twinkle now returning to her green eyes. Then she looked away. "I need you."

"That's what Dad said."

She looked back at him. "He was right. As usual."

"I don't know what to think of all this."

"Then don't think. Just take your clothes off and keep me warm."

Alan nodded, and wordlessly removed his shirt and shoes, his socks and slacks, leaving him in nothing but briefs.

"You're beautiful," she whispered, smiling and lifting the sheet.

"Not as beautiful as you are," he replied, scooting his body in close to hers. He pulled the sheet, blanket and comforter over them both and smiled as Tin-Tin snuggled into his arms, her head on his chest.

"The hair tickles," she giggled.

"Shhh," he said softly, though his body wanted her to be anything but quiet right now. "You need to rest."

"You won't leave me?"

Alan looked down at the top of her head. God, how he loved this woman. This felt so right. So goddamn _right_! "No," he said. "I won't leave you."

He could feel her mouth curve into a smile against his skin. "Good," she said. Within minutes, her steady breathing told him she was asleep.

"Oh, Tin-Tin," he whispered, smoothing her hair with his hand. "Why the hell did you have to go and become a queen?"

* * *

><p>Flying over the jungles of Malaysia made you realize how utterly impossible it was to search each and every inch of the countryside. Kyrano could be anywhere under that canopy. Hell, he could even be in Indonesia, but wouldn't the government there had made it public if they'd taken a political prisoner? Or could Kyrano be hiding out there without their knowledge? Perhaps he'd gone to the Malay Peninsula, but why? Without knowing anything or anyone but his daughter, why would he leave her? Suddenly Jeff found himself wishing for the flat prairie lands of Kansas. At least there, all you had to search were buildings.<p>

He was certain there was more to it than a senile man wandering off. But what would drive him from Tin-Tin's side? What was the one thing that could make Kyrano think he had to be anywhere but at the palace? And just like that, Jeff knew the answer as surely as he knew his own name. It had to have something to do with the Hood. His heart froze in his chest. If the Hood had him...he shuddered to think what was happening to his friend, and cursed the Hood for probably the millionth time in the last year.

He felt the hopelessness hit him again as they circled around the edge of Sabah. They couldn't hit Indonesian air space, not with political tensions as they currently were. But he couldn't fathom Kyrano would've gotten across the border without being noticed. Tin-Tin's top advisor, Badan, had informed him every route into the country south of them was covered by Indonesia's particularly nasty military. But where, then? Where would Kyrano go?

Jeff closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat as the pilot headed north toward the Peninsula. He'd spent years with Kyrano as his best friend. His mind replayed so many moments they had spent together. He pieced together everything he knew about Kyrano. Like an FBI profiler trying to figure out the ins and outs of someone, Jeff thought about the state Kyrano had been in the last time Tin-Tin had seen him.

He'd been lost. Frightened, undoubtedly. He didn't know his own past or Tin-Tin's mother, she'd said. Couldn't recall anything at all. Not even Jeff or his family. To have lost all his memories that way...it must have been killing him. Had he forgotten his mysticism? For Jeff believed the first thing the Kyrano he knew would do was use his special abilities to try and heal himself. But perhaps he _had_ forgotten. It would make sense that would've disappeared along with everything else. But it was part of Kyrano's make-up. Even if he didn't remember the words and actions, surely he would know that something inside was wrong that he needed to put right.

So what would he do? He would try to meditate. Or, if he couldn't remember meditation, seek out help. But from whom? Jeff's eyes opened. Now he was getting somewhere. Where would Kyrano go for help in restoring himself? He would believe it to be something other than physical since the doctors hadn't been able to explain it with science. Who was known as a healer? Probably many throughout this country. But Kyrano would instinctively seek out those who were like himself. So there would be no commercial healers or fortune tellers involved.

Jeff rubbed his chin. He himself had often thought of Kyrano as something like a priest or a monk. After all, the man had been celibate since Serena had left him and their daughter. He spent his hours in meditation, quiet contemplation and tending to the grounds and gardens of Tracy Island. And talking with him. Jeff swallowed the lump in his throat. To never get Kyrano's advice ever again? It was inconceivable. Jeff shook his head slightly. He had to get his mind back on track. No time for wallowing in self-pity. Besides, at this point, lamenting the loss of someone who was only 'missing' was premature.

So...a monk. A priest. Where did you find men like that? Churches? No, that was organized religion. Not Kyrano's way. He had a definite dislike of organized religion, like those which dotted the United States. He had once said they were lost sheep who would never find their God among the hypocritical pastures of those churches. Well, those hadn't been his _exact_ words, but they'd been Jeff's interpretation of them. So Kyrano would turn to the more native religions, he guessed. Those found in the area in which he'd grown up. He may not remember them all, but Jeff somehow felt Kyrano would just be drawn to places where they practiced much like he did.

"Monks," Jeff breathed, sitting up straight in his seat.

"Excuse me, sir?" the pilot asked, arching an eyebrow in his direction.

"Monks," Jeff repeated. "Are there any...I don't know...temples or anything around Sarawak?"

"Yes, there are several," the pilot replied. "Why?"

"I have a feeling in my gut," Jeff said. "I want to return to the palace immediately."

"Yes, sir." The plane banked southeast. Jeff knew what he was going to do next. He only hoped his instincts were right.

* * *

><p>Scott entered the gym to find Virgil just finishing with the free weights. Virg grabbed a towel and mopped the sweat from his face and neck. "Hey, Scott. What's up?"<p>

Sitting down on a bench, Scott replied, "I thought you might spot me. I need to burn off some steam."

"Steam? From what?"

"Not what. Who."

"Oh," Virgil nodded in recognition. "Lady P."

"Yep," Scott replied, lying back and lifting his hands into the air. Virgil picked up the long barbell and laid it gently in his brother's hands. "Lady P, all right."

"Why's she got you so bent out of shape?"

"You *grunt* heard *grunt* the way *grunt* she talked *grunt* to me."

"Yes, I did. But she's upset, Scott. Besides, if you had been the one to find that mask, don't tell me you wouldn't have stayed there to look for the Hood, even if you _were_ by yourself, and even if Dad _had_ ordered you back here."

"Not *grunt* the same *grunt* thing."

"Why? I can understand her being pissed. I can also understand you wanting her safe. But she's a professional, Scott. You've treated her like she was an amateur who wanted to pretend she was James Bond."

Scott nodded to him and Virgil took the barbell and replaced it back on its rest. "You're right," he said, grabbing the towel from Virgil's hand and wiping his forehead. "She's going to be some pissed at me."

"Damn right, she is."

"So...maybe I can give her some other excuse for asking-"

"Ordering."

"_Or_dering her to come here?"

Virgil cocked his head and eyed his brother. "What'd you have in mind?"

"Well, maybe something to do with one of the ships. She did help Brains with some ideas based on her work. Maybe I can tell her it's critical to have her here to help some more."

"Lame."

"Shit."

Virgil laughed. "I think you're just going to have to face the music. Penny's not stupid."

Scott shook his head and chuckled. "No, that's true enough." He stood and headed for the punching bag in the corner. He'd just pulled the gloves on when it suddenly occurred to him. "I've got it!" he crowed, giving the bag a good, solid punch for emphasis.

"Got what?" Virgil asked as he settled onto the rowing machine.

"Dad."

"Dad?"

"Dad," Scott nodded. "I can tell Penelope we're worried about him going off half-cocked to find Kyrano on his own."

Virgil's look of confusion changed as a wide grin spread across his face. "You're going to send her after him."

"Ha _ha_!" Scott grinned, punching the bag again. "Kills two birds: we get Dad some help out there, and we keep Penny from trying the Vulcan neck pinch on me."

Virgil laughed out loud. "That's why _you're_ the field commander."

"Damn straight," Scott replied as he turned back to the bag, quite pleased with himself. "Damn straight."

* * *

><p>"I want every temple in Malaysia mapped out for me," Jeff said to Badan as the two met in the war room.<p>

"Temples? Why?" Then Badan raised his eyebrows and smiled. "You believe Meor to be at one of them!"

"I do," Jeff replied. "How fast can I get it?"

"Give the Map Maker an hour. It will be finished by then."

Jeff nodded. "Thank you," he said. Then he headed for the suite he'd been given to stay in while a guest in the palace. Stately and adorned with rich mahogany bed posts, dressers and mirrors, the floor was a plush burgundy carpet, with matching burgundy bedding and drapes. It seemed rather dark, but that was okay with Jeff. He'd decided a catnap was in order, because once he got that map from Tin-Tin's Map Maker, he would know no rest until he had Kyrano's hand in his, leading him home.

With that optimistic thought firmly in mind, Jeff reclined into the massive amounts of pillows and chuckled as he figured those had to have come from Tin-Tin. His eyes drifted shut, and he sighed. He wondered how Alan and Tin-Tin were getting on, and hoped it was as well as Alan had wanted. During the journey he'd talked to his father about his plans, about how he still wanted to marry Tin-Tin whether her country permitted it or not. _It's the late 2030s, Dad. For God's sake, these people need to move into this century!_

And, he had to admit, Alan was right. That was a pretty archaic custom. If the love between his adopted daughter and youngest son was as strong as he suspected, it would happen. But then where did that leave International Rescue? Less a man, that's where it left it. Even if for some reason Tin-Tin abdicated the throne, he didn't automatically assume they'd come back to Tracy Island. It was pretty clear Alan wanted to be his own man, and Jeff couldn't begrudge him that, especially after the 'obligation' speech he'd given him earlier.

Maybe Alan would join the World Space Agency, although given what he'd put Lucy through during his years as an astronaut, he wasn't sure that was such a good idea. Perhaps he'd join one of those private companies who were, even now, making plans to colonize the Moon right alongside the military installations that were there. But...Tin-Tin living on the Moon? Jeff almost laughed out loud. No, that would most certainly not suit her. Then again, all this wondering might be for nothing. Maybe Alan and Tin-Tin _could_ get the Malay laws governing royal marriage changed. Then again, that could also be premature if the two weren't hitting off at all right now.

Besides, Jeff was fairly certain Tin-Tin would make no decisions about her life without first knowing what had happened to her father. And Jeff could only pray his theory would pan out, and that he'd find Kyrano hiding at a temple somewhere. But where? He was sure there had to be thousands in this region of the world. Buddhists, Muslims and scores of different beliefs held by the native peoples. If Kyrano _had_ gone to one of them, which would he choose? Where would most suit his needs? Where would his inner self take him? He knew the man quite well, but if only he had further insight into his mysterious ways. Into his mind. What we wouldn't _give_-

Jeff sat bolt upright. "My God," he whispered. For before his very eyes, Kyrano had appeared. Just a brief flash, but he'd seen him and he'd swear to it on any Bible handed him. And suddenly the last moments he'd spent with Kyrano came back.

_You and I...we feed off one another's energy._

"Maybe that's why I've been unable to sleep. Why I've been so tired!"

_I wish only to establish a link, so the tether does not dissolve no matter how far apart we may be._

"A link," he breathed. "That's it! A link! He...he established a link between us!"

_As with the energy that binds us all together in the expanse of the Universe, so now bind my energy to yours, a connection never to be broken, never severed._

Every word spoken, every gesture made was there with perfect clarity. Kyrano had looked into his eyes, and afterwards he had felt better. Better than he'd felt in a long, long time. But then why had he seemed to start declining after Kyrano's departure? And if they _were_ somehow connected, how would Jeff find that connection? Could he use it to lead him to Kyrano? If so, how did he tap into it? Or was this 'connection' nothing more than a ritualistic way to say he didn't want to be forgotten after he left?

_Remember me._

Jeff's jaw dropped.

_Remember me._

His eyes widened.

_Remember me._

He cried out as if in great pain and lost consciousness, falling back into the pillows behind him.

_Remember me_...

* * *

><p>Lady Penelope stepped out of the jet aided by John, who'd flown her there to Tracy Island. The ride had been tense and quiet, with John having no idea how to talk to an angry Lady of England, and Penelope wondering if John felt the same as Scott where she was concerned. She had completely made up her mind to have it out with Scott Tracy once and for all, and was just preparing to do so when she realized she and John were alone in the gigantic hangar that had once been home to Thunderbird Two.<p>

"Where are your brothers?" she asked, a bit miffed at having no reception whatsoever waiting for her.

"Busy," he said. "Parker, you know where Penelope's room is."

"Yessir," he said, hauling the first bag out of the jet and down the steps.

"John, what is going on?"

"We're trying to get in contact with Dad."

"Your father? Why? Is he in trouble?"

"He may very well be," John replied. "I don't honestly know. We talked to him just as he was landing in Sibu, but haven't heard from him since."

"Was he to check in?"

"Yes, half-an-hour ago. Scott told me over the headphones that he hadn't, they can't raise him on his comm, and they're having trouble getting Tin-Tin's palace to accept their call."

Penelope frowned. It wasn't like Jeff to miss a check-in. Suddenly it didn't matter that he'd left for Malaysia without saying good-bye, or that Scott had had the audacity to order her to Tracy Island. Suddenly, all that mattered was Jeff's safety. "Do you know what he was going to do upon arrival?"

"No. All he said," John replied as they entered the elevator that would take them to the villa's main floor, "was that he was going to find Kyrano come hell or high water."

"Oh, dear. Kyrano is very special to him, isn't he?"

"He's his best friend," John said, shrugging. "I just hope it hasn't gotten him into more than he can handle."

"I want to help," Penelope said suddenly.

John cracked a smile. "We thought you might. They're at Launch Control. Come on."

* * *

><p>"It's graduated from being a little white lie to keep the peace to an actual Search and Rescue," Scott said as he waited impatiently on hold.<p>

"I can't believe they won't let us through," Virgil complained as he turned in his seat to face Scott's console. "I mean, they _know_ Dad and Alan are there." He stopped as Gordon turned to look at him. "Don't they?"

"What are you saying?" Scott asked, brow furrowed.

"What if they never arrived?" Gordon gave voice to that which he knew he and Virgil had both been thinking. "What if they've been kidnapped?"

"Or worse?"

"Virg, Gordo, stop that right now. Sarawak is peaceful, Tin-Tin's seen to that."

"She can't control every part of it. What if some rebels or something were waiting at the airport?"

Scott's face lost all color as he returned to facing the HOLD screen on the vidphone. It couldn't be. They wouldn't have been captured. Tin-Tin would've called and asked where they were. She knew they were coming. Well, she knew _Jeff_ was coming. Alan was more of a surprise.

They had to have made it safely. Maybe they were just at some state dinner or something. Maybe the royal palace staff were just being assholes. Or maybe something bad _had_ happened, and they didn't want Jeff and Alan's family to know. _Oh, God_, Scott thought, shaking his head.

"Well, we can't even get through to his watch," Gordon said. "I mean, something's _got_ to be off if we can't raise him on that."

"I don't want to hear that kind of talk," Scott said matter-of-factly. He was about to continue when a voice from the vidphone startled them.

"Hello, Mr. Tracy."

"Yes! With whom am I speaking?"

"I am Badan, Senior Counsel to Her Royal Highness, Sultana of Sarawak. How may I assist you?"

"We're trying to reach our father. He was supposed to call us forty-five minutes ago, but so far we've heard nothing. Where is he?"

"Your father was resting in his suite, the last I was aware," Badan replied. "Would you like me to send a guard to check on him?"

"Yes, please. I want to speak with him. I'll hang on."

"Hang...on?"

"I'll wait," Scott said, trying to hide a smile.

"Ah, yes. Very well. One moment."

He was placed on hold again. Just about to turn and address his brothers' earlier statements, Scott was once again interrupted, only this time by the door from the tunnel swishing open. Lady Penelope walked through, followed by John.

"Hi, Penny," Gordon said with false cheer.

"Gordon, Virgil." Penny nodded at each of them. Then she walked up to the eldest. "Scott," she said, holding out her hand.

Scott smiled and shook it warmly. "Hi, Penny. Sorry about before, but I had to get you here and I had to do it quick."

"Well, for heaven's sake, just tell me what's going on next time, will you? Goodness gracious."

"Sorry, Penny."

"John has debriefed me. What is the latest news?"

"Got hold of some guy named Badan, said he was Tin-Tin's senior counsel. He's sending a guard to Dad's room to find him."

Penelope nodded as the vidphone screen came back to life.

"Mr. Tracy."

"Yes, I'm still here."

"Your father was, as I predicted, in his suite."

"Well, why didn't you put him on?"

Badan looked nervously off to the side, then back at Scott. "We...Mr. Tracy, it seems...we are unable to wake him."

"What?" Penny gasped. "Scott, get me there. Get me there _now_."

Scott nodded. "Badan, may we be so bold as to impose upon Her Highness's hospitality once more?"

"Who will be coming?" he asked.

"Me and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward."

"Ah, yes. The Sultana has spoken of you, Lady Penelope. I will expect you both. The guards will grant you access to the palace upon your arrival."

"Thank you, Badan." The Malay native nodded once before severing the connection.

"Why won't he wake up?" Virgil asked.

"Kyrano," Gordon said. "It has to have something to do with him."

"Or with the Hood," John reminded them.

"You have to take the device," Virgil said, rising to his feet. "Scott, you have to take one of the two we have."

"What? I don't know how to work that thing. And why?"

"I just have a bad feeling you might need it," Virgil said. "Brains can show you how to use it, he's got it all figured out."

"What device?" Penny inquired.

"The IDT," Virgil said. "Interdimensional Travel device."

"Oh, good heavens. Are you quite certain it's safe?"

"Well, I got over there and back, and so did the Sultan-" Virgil stopped short, took a deep breath and then continued. "Brains is pretty sure both of them are fully functional. And, like I said, he's got them all figured out now."

"Very well," Penny said as Parker walked into Launch Control. "Parker, put my bags back into the jet. We're headed for Malaysia."

"Coo," Parker swore as he turned right back around and headed into the tunnel. "H'I'll never figure 'er Ladyship ou', that's for sure."

"Scott, be careful," Virgil cautioned as they made their way through the tunnel that led them into a hall on the main floor of Tracy Villa. "You don't know what you're walking into."

"I know, Virg, I know. We'll be careful. You're running things until I return. Got it?"

Virgil nodded. "You know, Scott, we're dwindling. First Kyrano and Tin-Tin, then Alan and Dad...and now you and Penny. Pretty soon there isn't going to be anyone left here to run _any_thing."

Scott gave him a wry smile. "Don't worry. I did special extractions in the Air Force. I'm an old pro."

"I'm trying to decide which part of that to believe. The 'old' or the 'pro.'"

Scott all-out grinned. "I have to go pack. Get Tracy Two revved up for me, will you?"

Virgil nodded as Scott took the steps upstairs two-at-a-time. He had a bad feeling in his gut. A twisting feeling. One that simply wouldn't go away.

* * *

><p>He sat alone in the great room of the temple. Before him, a statue of Buddha in meditation carved from pure black onyx. Surrounding him against all walls, vases and plates of incense wafted their hazy smoke into the still air. To his right and left, eternal flames burned steadily, casting their shadows across his face and body.<p>

He had fasted for the first three months, but had become so weak and disoriented the brothers had insisted he stop. He had eaten little and slept less. His face was drawn, his eyes, gaunt. His formerly well-shaped body had wasted away until he was but a shell of the man he had once been. The trouble was, he didn't _know_ the man he'd once been.

For the last six months had seen no change in Kyrano's state of mind. And with his health on the decline, the monks who cared for him prayed endlessly for him to find peace, in whatever manner Buddha felt was best to fulfill the man's destiny. They did not take destiny lightly, nor did they know the name of this man who had come to them in the wee hours of the morning six months prior. But they took in all souls who sought to restore themselves within their walls.

One monk of the order was no greater than another; they were all servants of Buddha, who sought to attain perfection and be granted passage to Buddha's holy city upon leaving their current lives. They sensed within the man they sheltered great secrets were hidden, secrets which might lead them to a higher existence themselves. But he could not speak of them, for his mind seemed to have gone. And so the monks knew much sorrow for their fellow soul's suffering and loss, and worked tirelessly with him in chanting, meditation and prayer in an attempt to help him find that which he had lost so tragically.

Nothing they did worked. One monk had remarked to another that it was as though everything he had once been was gone. Almost like a soul without what _made_ it a soul were wandering the Earth. They were all greatly puzzled and troubled by this observation, and doubled their efforts. But to date, it had all been in vain. Whatever door had been locked and closed within Kyrano's mind was refusing to grant admittance.

And so Kyrano opened his eyes, locking his gaze on Buddha's face. His prayers had gone unanswered. He was still not healed. Indeed, not even _started_ on the road to recovery. The one thing...or rather one _person_...that he did remember would surely be frantic for his safety after so long. He rose to his feet and made his way to the monks' quarters. Tonight he would tell them of his intentions. Tomorrow, he would leave and return to the palace. For even though he could barely remember his own name, his love for his daughter burned brightly within his heart.

At the very least, his body would be there. With any luck, one day his mind would return. But at least he'd be with one person he knew. At least he had Tin-Tin.

* * *

><p>There was a soft knock at the door. Alan, who had not fallen asleep, raised his head and looked toward it as it softly creaked open. He took a look at Tin-Tin, who was sleeping soundly next to him, and decided whatever it was could wait until morning. So he rolled out of the bed slowly. She sighed once and rolled over, but didn't awaken. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled his pants on and hurried to the door.<p>

"Yes?" he said to Badan, who was standing there with a look of shock plastered on his face. "What is it?"

"What are _you_ doing in Her Highness's bedroom suite?"

Alan nearly laughed out loud, for the counselor's voice had risen nearly an octave. "I am here at Her Highness's bidding, and I have stayed for the same reason. She is finally asleep and I do _not_ want her awakened. Understand?"

Badan raised his chin defiantly. "I am the Sultana's primary advisor, and I will not be told what to do in her own palace!"

Alan slipped out into the corridor, closing the doors behind him. "Badan, I understand that Tin-Tin is a queen here, and that you have a certain way you do things around this place. But I also know that she's sick, and she needs her rest. Now what _is_ it?"

Badan nodded and retreated a step. "Actually, it concerns you more than her," he replied.

"What? How so?"

"It is your father, Mr. Tracy. Your brother, I believe named Scott, contacted us and wished to speak with him. When the guards went to his room, they found him asleep in bed."

"So? He's tired, too."

"No," Badan shook his head. "We cannot awaken him."

"What? What do you mean, you can't awaken him?"

"It is as I said, sir. Your father has been moved to the hospital infirmary. If you would be so kind as to accompany my guards, they will show you the way."

"Where are you going to be?"

"Attending to affairs in Her Highness's absence, of course," Badan replied, bowing and turning to walk the other way down the corridor. He stopped and looked back at Alan. "I _do_ hope your father is all right."

Alan gulped and followed the four guards. His father wouldn't wake up? What the hell did _that_ mean? What was he, unconscious? Sleeping soundly? Or was something more sinister at play? He knew his dad had gone out in a plane to get a bird's eye view of Sarawak and the rest of Malaysia, but he hadn't talked to him since he'd come and told him and Tin-Tin of his plans.

But then what could it be? His heart raced as they took a modern-looking elevator down one level and exited into a long corridor lined with rooms. It sure smelled like a hospital, he thought, as his nose crinkled. The guards stopped outside the third door down on the right, and Alan peeked through the window. There lay his father in a hospital bed, seemingly asleep, with a nurse taking his pulse. A doctor appeared to Alan's left, and he walked up to him.

"What's wrong with my father? What happened?"

"We do not know, sir, I am sorry," the doctor replied with a thick accent. "I have sent some scans to be processed."

"I think he should go to a _real_ hospital."

"This _is_ a real hospital, sir. We are fully staffed and house the latest in medical technology. The Sultana utilizes our facilities exclusively."

"Not entirely," Alan mumbled, remembering that Tin-Tin had told them Kyrano's brain scans had been done in Kuala Lumpur. "I want to see my father."

The doctor nodded and opened the door, granting Alan access. The nurse looked up and smiled as she finished tapping her latest readings into a hand-held computer database. A few seconds later, she left the room. Alan and the doctor looked on as Jeff's chest rose and fell.

"So he was just found like this? No evidence of any trauma or other strange cirumstances?"

"None at all. He seems to simply be asleep. Even the electromagnetic scans we did on his brain are showing no signs of untoward activity."

"Let me have a try," Alan said, pulling a chair over to his dad's bedside.

"Whatever you say, sir."

"Dad?" Alan said, taking his father's hand. "Dad, it's Alan. Can you hear me?" There was no response. "What happened to you? Come on, Father, wake up."

But Jeff didn't move a muscle except to breathe. Alan had no idea what was going on, but he knew he had to let Base know immediately. He asked to be taken back to his assigned suite, and the guards stood out in the corridor waiting.

"I'll find out what's going on, Dad," Alan said as he replaced Jeff's hand and arm on the bed next to him. "I promise I will."

* * *

><p>As soon as Alan and the four guards had disappeared in the opposite direction, Badan slithered back into the hall. Eyes darting to and fro, he approached Tin-Tin's door. Within moments, he had gained access and shut it quietly behind him. He crept nearer her bed, grateful for the light cast throughout the suite by the blue candle Tin-Tin always insisted upon keeping lit. For her father, she always said.<p>

He approached her bed cautiously, for if the Sultana was awake, she would certainly berate him for being that far into her suite without her permission. But, as it was, Badan's luck held as he discovered she was still sound asleep. _Good_, he thought. He reached inside his robe and pulled out a syringe. Looking closely at her face once more, he decided it was now or never. After all, she might feel the stick of the needle. It was nothing short of a miracle that she hadn't felt it any of the times before, but Badan chalked it up to his expertise in such matters.

He pulled the sheets and blankets back enough to expose the side of her body. Badan tipped the syringe up and pushed the air out of it, then felt down the side of her until he reached her hip. Slowly he pushed the needle through the fabric of her underwear right into the soft flesh just behind her hip bone. And then, just as slowly, he used the plunger to push the entire contents of the syringe into her body. In less than a minute it was done, and Tin-Tin hadn't even stirred. He withdrew the needle and replaced it in the pocket inside his robe.

Her father, indeed. Badan didn't know for sure what had happened to Meor, but at this point it didn't matter. Once Tin-Tin was gone, there would be nothing stopping him. He would obtain that which he had been promised, and could retire in peace on the shores of some distant island. After all, even a top advisor didn't make _that_ much money. What with the impending changes to Sarawak and Malaysia, and the forces who were hell-bent on destroying this palace and all who associated with the sultana, Badan wanted to get out before he lost his life. Loyalty? Not if it cost him his head. Besides, to be part of such a grand scheme as this was titillating, to say the least. He scurried from the room, checked the corridor for people, and entered it, closing the doors behind him.

_A few more doses of this, Sultana, and your father will have no one to come back to._

Now all he had to do was get rid of those Tracys.


	3. Resolution

_Conspiracies abound and confusion reigns as events unfold on two different sides of the world. Will some be saved only to let others die?_

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>RESOLUTION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>"How in the <em>hell<em> could the Hood be here?" Virgil asked, more of himself than either of his remaining brothers. "I don't like this. I don't like it one bit."

"I have to say I'm more than a little reluctant to head back out to Kansas," John admitted, running a hand through his light blonde hair. He leaned back against the pool table as Gordon lined up for a shot.

"I wouldn't leave if I were you."

"Half our family's off the island. He's obviously infiltrated International Rescue enough to know that Jeremiah and Sir Jeremy were affiliated with us."

"Yeah," Gordon said as he sank the two ball. "And if he can get to them, he can get to us."

"Not to mention that the half of our family not here are in the Hood's old stomping grounds."

John's eyes widened and bored into Virgil's skull. "My God," he whispered.

"What?" Gordon and Virgil asked simultaneously, their eyes coming to rest on John's.

"Think about it," John said, leaning forward earnestly. "If you were the Hood and you wanted to finish what you started in Manhattan, what would you do to lure us off this island?"

"Kyrano," Gordon breathed. "Shit."

"Father and Alan are sitting right where that bastard can strike at them."

"Wait," Virgil said, holding up his hands. "You mean you think the Hood has Kyrano?"

"It makes sense," Gordon nodded. "After all, he's been mentally contacting Kyrano for the entire time he and Tin-Tin have been with us. He must have learned something of his and Dad's friendship."

"And anyone who knows Dad even a little knows he'd go out of his way to help a friend," John added.

"Son of a bitch, guys." Virgil's eyes widened. "We just sent Scott and Penny into the same trap."

* * *

><p>Alan stole back into Tin-Tin's bedroom suite. He crossed into her bedroom proper, mildly surprised she was still asleep. He couldn't fathom why his father wouldn't wake up. Nothing he'd tried worked, and the doctor insisted there was nothing physically wrong with him.<p>

Then again, that's what they'd said about Kyrano, and _he'd_ apparently lost his mind. Disappeared. Into thin air, how was that possible? Alan neared Tin-Tin's bed and took his pants off, lifting the blanket and sheet as he prepared to slide in next to her once more. He knew Scott knew about their father, and he therefore knew Scott was on his way to the palace. If he knew nothing else, he knew his big brother.

He'd probably bring Virgil. Maybe even Gordon and John. No, he wouldn't bring them all. Too much to do on the 'birds and the Corp. Alan looked down at Tin-Tin's unmoving form and his train of thought immediately derailed as he caught sight of something that made his brow furrow.

Leaning closer in the dim candlelight, he touched his fingertips to the cotton of her panties, then slowly pulled it down. At first he could see nothing that would have caused it, but he quickly picked up the blue candle and brought it closer to her, intent on proving his thoughts wrong.

He wasn't wrong. The spot was bright red. It was blood. Slowly he moved the panties down a couple of inches more until he saw the source: a tiny pinprick in the flesh of her hip. "What the hell?" He looked up at Tin-Tin's face and his eyes widened as he took in her sallow color and realized her breathing was shallow. "Tin-Tin?"

He shook her lightly. She didn't stir.

"Tin-Tin, wake up!"

He shook her harder.

"Tin-Tin!"

But she wouldn't wake.

* * *

><p>"You might be right," Scott said into the headset as he and Penny eyed one another. She, too, was wearing a headset and had heard every word John, Gordon and Virgil had said. "We can't discount the possibility."<p>

"But if that's the case, if he could get to Kyrano, why would he not simply take Tin-Tin as well?"

"Wouldn't have had the same result," Scott replied. "He knows it'd be Tin-Tin who would ask for Dad's help. If he had her, she wouldn't be around to get us involved. You can bet that Badan guy sure wouldn't have come to us. We never would've known."

Penelope nodded in understanding. "Well, what do you propose we do about it? If your father's state of health has anything to do with the Hood, you boys might be right. We might very well be walking into a trap."

"H'I 'ave an idea, milady, h'if you please."

"Yes, Parker?"

"We're all ears," Scott chimed in. "We sure as hell can't just leave them down there alone."

"Right you are, Mister Scott, sir. Might h'I suggest we h'attack the problem from a different h'angle, then?"

"What have you in mind?"

"H'It's quite simple, milady. We 'ave that h'interdimensional travel device, do we no'?"

Scott's eyes widened. "Parker, you're a genius."

"'S about time someone no'iced," Parker grumbled good-naturedly.

"Scott, you have to be careful with that," came Virgil's voice through the headphones. "Trust me, you don't want to mess around with it too much."

"I know, Virg. But I think Parker's right. This way we can assess the situation before alerting anyone at the palace to our presence. That _is_ why you gave it to me, after all."

The silence on the other end was deafening. Scott knew his brother was thinking about their earlier conversation, about not being able to stop the same thing from happening here that had happened in the other dimension...both where he and their father were concerned.

"Virg, what about the other Kyrano...the sultan. You think he'd help us again?"

"I think he would, John," Virgil replied. "After all, he was willing to help me and _our_ Kyrano."

"All right, then it's settled," Scott said. "John, Gordon, Virgil: I want you and Brains to remain on the island for now. Last thing we need is for him to start picking you guys off, too." Scott looked sidelong at Penelope. "You ready for some inter-dimensional hopping?"

"Absolutely," she nodded gravely. "What's the plan, Scott?"

He looked straight ahead out the cockpit window, the wheels of his mind churning. "I think the three of us should stick together. No sense in getting separated. I'll let Alan in on the action, we'll see if we can't target him first to see what's happening. Then we'll check on Dad, and if things are bad enough, we'll go after the sultan for help."

"Scott, there is another possibility."

"Brains?"

"Y-Yes, Scott. I-I'm sorry, I tapped into the line."

"No problem, whaddya have?"

"Well, ah, given what Virgil has told me of the o-other dimension, and my own theories, I-I believe you could safely bring someone back to this dimension to help you, but, ah, I-I don't believe it to be the sultan."

"Why not?"

"Well, the prevailing theorems on both time travel and inter-dimensional travel a-at this time, indicate the person traveling cannot come into contact with their counterpart or i-it would be tantamount to a matter/anti-matter collision."

"I've heard that before," Gordon said. "But the sultan and Kyrano were touching back on that fishing boat. Why didn't things explode then?"

"But they did," Brains replied. "i-If we are to believe that Kyrano's mind has gone."

"Oh, shit," John breathed. "Shit, shit, shit."

"I can't believe we didn't think about that," Virgil said. "Scott, what if we had the sultan bring him back to life only to have him fade away until he's nothing more than a body?"

"Now hold on, everyone. Brains, you mentioned another possibility. I just have a nagging feeling we're going to need some help from the other side. If we can't bring the sultan over here, what do you suggest?"

"Well, ah, what about Ben?"

* * *

><p>Kyrano looked across the water as the skiff neared the mainland of Southern Malaysia. He noted the storm clouds gathering in the distance and doubted he would make it to the palace on horseback before the rains came. It was the beginning of Malaysia's rainy season, and in the jungles it would be unbearably hot and uncomfortable. <em>If I can remember what the rainy season is like, why can't I remember my best friend?<em>

His thoughts consumed him. Bowing his head, he knew there were no tears left for him to cry. He was numb. Too much thinking, too much searching. So much lost, nothing to see in the future that was anything other than disastrous. His half-brother's image in the mirror that day haunted him constantly. Why had he seen him? Not once had Radzi Belah attacked him during his stay at the Snake Temple. Not once had the monks sensed an evil presence nearby.

Yet he couldn't shake the niggling in the back of his mind. There was something he should _know_, dammit! Something important, something that might give him some answers. His thoughts were scattered, nothing coherent would come of them. Just then, he heard a throat clear behind him. He turned and gasped. For before him stood a man he _knew_. But he wasn't sure _how_ he knew him.

"Kyrano," the deep voice said softly. "I remember."

With that, the man vanished into thin air. Kyrano stood with eyes wide, his jaw hanging open. The only other person on the skiff was the small raft's captain, steering it across the water and paying Kyrano no mind. He looked around, but there was no trace of the man who'd just been there speaking to him.

Who was he? Salt-and-pepper hair. Blue-gray eyes, so piercing. Where had he come from? Where had he gone? _I've lost my mind. That is the only explanation._ But for some reason, that didn't ring true. _What is happening to me?_

_I remember._

Kyrano's chest heaved as his breaths came faster and faster.

_I remember._

The man. His face was so familiar. Kind. Full of caring and concern. Another phrase entered his mind. A phrase he himself had uttered.

_Remember me._

"Remember..." Kyrano said, gripping the single rail to his left. "Remember me."

And then the man's visage seemed to appear before him again.

_Remember me._

Kyrano gasped. "Jeff!"

* * *

><p>Alan raced down the hall, a woman weighing barely over one hundred pounds cradled in his arms. He entered the same elevator he'd taken to the palace infirmary. Down they went and soon the doors had opened. There were two nurses in the hall before him.<p>

"Help me!" he yelled, running toward them. "Help Tin-Tin!"

"What happened?" one of the nurses asked as she rushed forward. The second nurse ran for a gurney.

"I'm not sure, there's a pinpoint of blood on her hip. She wasn't this bad when Badan called me away to see Dad-" Alan's eyes widened as his mind leapt from question to answer. "Shit!"

"Beg your pardon?" the nurse asked as the other woman wheeled a gurney up to them. Alan laid his charge gently upon it.

"Badan," Alan breathed. "He called me away for Father, and when I returned, she was like this."

"You have no idea what's wrong with her?" the same doctor he'd talked to about his father asked as he skidded to a halt by the gurney.

"Yes, I do," Alan said, his face set in stone, eyes narrowed. "She's being poisoned."

"Poisoned?" the doctor repeated, looking at him in disbelief. "Are you mad?"

"Damn straight I am. You take care of her, I want every test you can run on her done _now_."

"I cannot take orders from you, Mister-"

"Don't you 'mister' me, Doctor," Alan seethed, grabbing the lapels of his lab coat. "She is your _queen_! You save her life or I will personally come back down here and strangle you with my bare hands. And you had _better_ take care of my father!"

The doctor nodded, shaking in fright. "I-I will. I promise."

Alan watched as they wheeled Tin-Tin away. If Badan were really poisoning her, how far did the treachery go? Could he trust these nurses and this doctor? Could he trust anyone at all? Without his father awake, Alan was on his own. Tin-Tin was near death; that much was apparent. But Alan knew he had to take care of the one traitor he was certain of.

He'd barely turned on heel when a door to his left squeaked open. "Dad!"

"Alan?"

Jeff seemed unsteady on his feet, so Alan rushed to his side, supporting him with both hands on his father's arm.

"Dad, are you okay? What happened?"

"I..." Jeff shook his head and rubbed his temple. "I'm not sure. All I know is that I saw Kyrano."

"What? Here?"

"No," Jeff shook his head again. "I can't...I don't understand it myself, but he's alive. That much I _do_ know."

Alan quickly told his father about Tin-Tin's condition and his own suspicions as they entered the elevator.

"Then we have to stop him," Jeff said, seeming to come back to himself a bit as the elevator rose.

"Exactly what I was thinking."

The doors swished open on the main floor of the palace, but instead of an empty hall they were greeted with ten guards standing at the ready, the object of their suspicions standing smugly in front of them.

"Badan!"

"On behalf of Her Royal Highness the Sultana of Sarawak, I am placing you both under arrest."

"What?" Alan screeched as the guards pulled them both out of the elevator. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"I think it is apparent. Do not try to fight us. The guards are authorized to kill traitors on sight."

"Traitors?" Jeff repeated. "What are we charged with?"

"Attempted murder," Badan said, a suppressed smile making the corners of his mouth twitch. "Poisoning our queen."

"You sonofabitch!" Alan cried, struggling against the guards. "_You're_ the one who's been poisoning her! You can't pin this on us!" He caught his father's eye, however, and stopped moving as Jeff slowly shook his head no.

"I am afraid you are strangers here, and no one will believe your claims," Badan sneered. He then turned and spoke to a guard in Malay. The guard nodded and soon Jeff and Alan were being pulled back into the elevator.

Alan wanted to go ballistic and beat the shit out of every one of the men holding them. More than anything he wanted to throttle Badan. For Tin-Tin was now completely unprotected. It would take nothing for Badan to finish what he'd started, and it would be chalked up to her health failing as a result of Kyrano's disappearance. No doubt the doctor would be in on it as well as the nurses.

"What have I done, Father?" Alan asked, face betraying the gut-twisting feelings inside him. "I've delivered her to her death."

"Not now, Alan," Jeff said softly, his eyes silently pleading with his son to understand. "Not now."

But as Alan saw it, there was no hope. Tin-Tin would die, and most probably so would he and Jeff. For all they knew, Kyrano was probably already dead. And then Scott would come, and what would happen to him? And whoever was with him? One by one, Alan realized, the Tracys and their friends were being done away with.

And that's when Alan figured out why. He looked up and knew instantly that his father had come to the same conclusion. There could only be one man behind this, and it wasn't Badan. Alan's watch vibrated, but he didn't dare move to answer it. He didn't need to, to know who it was. _Scott, help us. Help us!_

* * *

><p>"Dammit, I can't raise Alan. Brains, give me his GPS and Dad's too, while you're at it."<p>

"O-Of course, Scott. Pulling them up now."

Scott's knuckles turned white from gripping the steering yoke so hard as he began their final descent. "Come on, come on..."

"I-I have them, ah, Scott. Both are i-in Sarawak Palace, a-according to GPS."

"Then why isn't Alan _answering_?"

"I-I don't know, Scott."

"Scott, be careful. Something's wrong, I can feel it."

"We're going with the IDT," Scott said, his voice in command mode. "As soon as we land, we'll head to a remote area where we can disappear without being noticed. Brains, I got what you told me, but I want you talking me through it anyway."

"O-Okay, Scott."

Penelope tensed in the seat beside him. "Do you think Jeff and Alan are quite all right?"

"No, Penny. I don't. Not at all."

"Neither do I," she replied. He was surprised to feel her hand on his arm. "We'll get them back."

Scott nodded. But in his gut, he wasn't so sure.

* * *

><p>"Shit, I have to get to that meeting with the heads of the companies," John said. "I'll do it from my suite. Keep me updated, Virgil."<p>

"Will do, John. Good luck."

"I'll need it," John said, shaking his head. "How I'm supposed to concentrate on business right now is beyond me."

"Don't worry," Gordon said. "Dad'll be back soon and kick your ass if you miss this one."

John and Virgil both noticed their brother's smile didn't reach his eyes. John nodded once and turned to head up the stairs to his room.

"What about the Thunderbirds?" Gordon asked.

"You're kidding. At a time like this?"

"What? Don't you wish we had One right now?"

Virgil nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'd go right in there guns blazing and rescue them all."

"I know. We all would." Gordon flopped back onto one of the plush sofas in the Lounge. "We should go to Malaysia," he finally said.

"Are you crazy?"

"Well, what are we _supposed_ to do?" Gordon asked, hopping to his feet. "Just sit here and wait for them all to die?"

"Don't even joke," Virgil said, his eyes turning hard. "Not about that."

"I...look, I'm sorry, Virg, I know you saw some pretty fucked up shit over there, but we're just sitting here with our thumbs up our asses. We have no idea what's happening in that palace, and our oldest brother is on his way to start flipping through dimensions without any idea of what might happen."

"That's funny, Gordo, I don't remember you ever getting this hyped about anything. At least, not since you got accepted into WASP."

"That was a good hyped. This is an I'm-worried-half-my-family's-going-to-die hyped."

Virgil reached out and squeezed his brother's shoulder. "I know, Gordon. I know. But we're not going to do any of them any good if we walk into the same trap."

"Wait!" Gordon whirled around, startling Virgil. "What if this isn't a trap for _them_?"

"What are you getting at?"

"What if it's a trap for _us_?"

"Us?"

"Sure! What if he found our base? If he could travel through dimensions, what's to say he didn't find out our location? Maybe even from Kyrano at some point?"

"And...and you think he's gotten them off the island..."

"To _attack_ the island. There are only four of us here, one being the primary driving force behind our machinery. Our leader and our field commander are thousands of miles away, as is Alan."

"We have no defense against him. Four of us can't possibly cover the entire island."

"No. We can't," Gordon said solemnly.

"But which theory is right?" Virgil asked in exasperation. "We could 'what if' all day!"

"I just don't know. Either makes sense. He could get Dad directly, or he could get the island, everything we have, including Brains. Which would he go for?"

"Hard to tell. He hates Dad enough to have killed all those people in Manhattan. Does he covet our technology more than he hates Father?"

"Shit, Virg. I'm at a loss."

"Well, I say we might as well do what we can to defend the island," Virgil decided. "If he _is_ coming here, he's not taking us without a fight."

"Agreed."

"Brains?" Virgil said into the intercom.

"I-I'm here, Virgil."

"Lounge, on the double."

"F.A.B."

"Gordon, go let John know what we're up against. We need him with us right now, not at that meeting."

"F.A.B."

Virgil looked at his father's empty desk, then back up to the row of portraits. Right now, he was in charge. The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach grew. If they were right, he could very well lose the entire island, everything his family had worked so hard to create and protect. If he was wrong, he could wind up minus a father and two brothers, not to mention friends that were more like family members.

Either way, someone was going to lose. Either way, it would mean a loss none of them would ever get over.

Virgil made it to the balcony just in time, the contents of his stomach emptying over the railing, splattering into the leafy foliage below.

"Dad," he whispered, trying to compose himself as his chest and stomach continued to heave. "Scott..."

* * *

><p>Kyrano's heart pounded as fast and hard as the hooves of his horse beating against the ground beneath its feet. The horse's breath heaved in time with his as the two almost became as one. One objective. One path. One thought.<p>

_Jeff._

He knew. He knew he'd seen Jeff. _How_ he knew, Kyrano couldn't be certain, but it was Jeff. It was someone he was to remember. Who remembered _him_. And he felt the tether pull at him as though someone were trying to rip it away. He may have been weak of body and mind, but Kyrano clung to the image of Jeff Tracy, to the sound of his voice.

_Kyrano, I remember._

Clung to it with every breath, every second of thought, every fiber of his being. He somehow knew he had to hold it very close, not let it slip through his fingers this time. Whoever Jeff was to him, whatever they were to each other, he felt the man needed him. And in a way, he felt he needed Jeff as well. For whatever reason the two were bound. He had learned of joining at the Snake Temple, but had not allowed any of the monks to attempt it. It had, however, been thoroughly explained. And he innately knew that what bound he and Jeff was the result of a join.

_I'm-coming-I'm-coming-I'm-coming_ his mind repeated over and over. If Jeff needed him now, what of his daughter? Was Jeff there with her? Why now had he seen him, after six months of fervent meditation had proven fruitless?

_I remember_.

Kyrano only wished he could. Beyond the almost animalistic urge he had to return to the palace, he had no understanding of what he was feeling. His heart beat even faster as they passed the last village and plunged into the jungle.

The first drops of rain fell.

* * *

><p>"Dad, do you really think it's the Hood?"<p>

"It _has_ to be. Listen, they stripped my watch in the infirmary. You've got to contact Scott."

But before Alan could even raise his wrist, a blue-white light appeared before them. Three figures emerged, but they were so blinded neither Jeff nor Alan could see anything at first.

"Dad?"

"Scott?"

"Scott?"

"Al!"

Jeff rose to his feet and rubbed the spots out of his eyes as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his body. They weren't those of a man. "Penny?" he said, arms automatically going around her. "Penny!"

"What are you guys...how did you...wait, the IDT?"

"You got it, Al," Scott said, showing the device snugly wrapped around his forearm. "Listen, we don't have much time. We think the Hood's behind all this."

"We came up with the same idea," Jeff said. "Badan has arrested us for poisoning Tin-Tin."

"_What?_" Penny gasped, backing away from Jeff.

"Only _he's_ the one who did it!" Alan said vehemently. "I found a needle mark on her hip and she..." His voice trailed off and he turned away, trying to compose himself.

Scott gripped his youngest brother's shoulder firmly. "We'll find her with this. Brains put all our patterns in this device. I can home in on anyone."

"Wait," Jeff said, touching the device lightly with his fingertips. "Did he put Kyrano's pattern in here, too?"

Scott nodded.

"My God, we could find him. We could find him right now!"

"Dad, what about Tin-Tin?" Alan nearly screeched.

Jeff turned stricken eyes upon the baby-faced man. "Of course we'll get her first. What do you say, Scott?"

"I say we go. Now. Will Tin-Tin be okay to travel with us?"

"I don't know. She didn't look very good when I left her in the infirmary," Alan replied.

"Let's find out. We all have to join hands. As long as the chain isn't broken, the device will transport anyone I'm touching and circle back around to my other hand, getting us all."

"Okay," Jeff said. "Let's go."

Scott took Penny's hand. Penny took Jeff's. Jeff took Alan's. Alan took Parker's and Parker took Scott's. Scott keyed in a command, then grabbed Penny's hand again. "Hang on, it's a weird sensation."

A blue-white light opened before them and in a flash, the cell in the prison tower of Sarawak Palace was empty and eerily silent, as though no one had ever been there.

* * *

><p>He had the island in his sights. It would be over before too long. With his current face, they would welcome him with open arms. He knew the state of things in Sarawak. And he knew who was at home and who wasn't. His small hovercraft neared its destination. By now, surely their sensors had picked up his approach. By now they were wondering about the level of threat from this small vessel with only one life sign aboard.<p>

But by the time those on Tracy Island realized their assessment was wrong, it would be too late for them. And Belah Gaat would triumph.

* * *

><p>"What do you think, John?"<p>

The four men watched the blip in John's portrait move ever nearer the island.

"Dunno, Virg. Scans indicate it's a four-passenger hovercraft, only one life sign. Can't be all that dangerous with a single person."

"But what if it's the Hood?"

"Come on, if he shows himself here, Gordon, he'd have to know we'd kill him on sight."

"Where are _you_ going?" John asked.

"To get the IDT," Virgil said, stopping only long enough to answer the question. "If this _is_ one of the Hood's tricks, I'm going to make sure we have a trick or two of our own."

"He looks mean."

John snorted. "He's pissed."

"Now there's something you don't see every day." Gordon turned to look at his engineer friend. "You okay, Brains? You don't look so good."

"I don't _feel_ so good," Brains replied, large blue eyes blinking slowly. "The last time I-I ran into the Hood, I wound up buried up to my neck in sand."

Gordon smiled a lopsided smile, reaching out to squeeze Brains' arm. "I remember. It'll be okay."

"E-Even if we do need to get away, a-and we contemplate, ah, using the IDT, we _can't_ go."

"I know. Abandoning the base. But you know we have a contingency plan for that, too."

"Oh, no," Brains breathed, paling considerably. "We can't."

"It's either that or hand the Hood our technology on a silver platter. You know that."

Brains nodded slowly, unable to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. "It can't be him," he said softly. "Not all our work."

Gordon felt it to his marrow as much as Brains, as much as any of them would. But he and his brothers knew it was a very real possibility as the dot moved closer to the island. The idea of blowing Tracy Island to smithereens made him sick to his stomach. Their entire lives; their life's work. Everything they had built, dreamed up, created. The places where they had laughed together, lived together, gone through hell and back. To have it gone was unfathomable. But it was better than the Hood getting his hands on it all.

Wasn't it?

* * *

><p>"Oh, my God, Tin-Tin!" Alan cried as the group walked into the hospital room she was being kept in.<p>

The door burst open and two guards entered the room, weapons drawn. Scott and Jeff rushed the men as Parker and Penelope whipped out their own sidearms. Alan raced to Tin-Tin and picked her up gently in his arms. She looked even worse than she had earlier, and tears sprang to his eyes as he took in the greenish tint to her skin. Two expert shots from Parker felled the guards.

"Quickly, we must leave now before more come!" Penelope said, holding her hand out to Jeff. He took it as Scott keyed commands into the IDT. "Here, Alan, I'll take your hand."

"And I'll take the other," Scott said, reaching beneath Tin-Tin's legs and finding his brother's hand. Parker took Scott's and completed the circle with Jeff. "Here we go."

The white door appeared before them again. They all heard voices shouting behind them, but hurried through the portal as fast as they could in their circle. Six guards and Badan were left perplexed in their wake.

* * *

><p>The horse had worked up a lather, but Kyrano could think of nothing but his destination. He knew he was hours away, but he had no choice. <em>You'll run the horse to its death.<em> And then he would have no transportation. _I can't stop._ Before another thought could register, a blinding white light appeared before him. The horse reared up and in the pouring rain Kyrano lost his grip on the reigns, falling backwards off the horse as it neighed and pawed at the air before it.

He landed in a heap atop a pile of fallen dead leaves. The horse took off to his right as the light grew brighter, blinding him. "What is this?" he cried, shielding his eyes with his left arm.

"Kyrano?"

Scrambling to his feet, the rain-soaked man tried to focus. That voice. He knew that voice. Suddenly arms were around him. A warm body. He knew the smell...knew the man...

"Jeff?"

"Thank God," a voice breathed in his ear. "Thank God."

"Dad, we have to get Tin-Tin to a hospital!"

"Tin-Tin!" Kyrano asked, extricating himself. He barely spared Jeff a glance as he headed for his daughter, still held securely in Alan's arms. "What happened?"

"No time!" Scott said. "Where's the nearest hospital?"

"I do...I do not know," Kyrano said sadly as he grasped Tin-Tin's lifeless hand. "I do not remember."

"Shit!" Scott swore, raising his watch to his face. "Virgil, come in."

There was a moment's silence until his watch face blinked to life. "Scott? Scott, you're not going to believe this!"

"No time, Virgil, we need Brains to get the sick ward set up - we're on our way back and Tin-Tin's not doing good at all. We're using the IDT."

"Tin-Tin? Oh, my God. Kyrano will be _so_ glad to see her."

Scott frowned. "Kyrano? Well...yes, he _is_ glad."

Virgil, in turn, frowned back. "How would you know that?"

"Because he's standing right here." Scott moved his watch so Virgil could see him.

"It can't be. Scott, that's not Kyrano!"

"What are you talking about? Why would you say that?"

"Because Kyrano's here with us!"

"Oh, no," Kyrano breathed. "Oh, no."

They looked at one another in horror. "The Hood," Jeff and Penelope breathed in unison.

"Virgil! Get out of there! Get out of there _now_! It's the _Hood_!" The look of fear on Virgil's face tore through Scott's being. Then his watch went dark. "Virgil! God, no! _Virgil_!" Scott turned panicked eyes on his father. "We have to get back to the island, Dad! _Now_!"

Jeff's mouth set into a straight line. Kyrano's breathing seemed to become more labored, and they all turned to him, to find he was staring at Jeff. The rest of the world seemed to fall away as the men locked eyes.

"I do not remember all of you," Kyrano said softly. "I only know that you and I have some sort of connection that is stronger and more true than anything I have known since I took ill."

Jeff nodded once. "But we might not be able to help her. She's your only daughter."

"And they are your sons. We will go."

Jeff held his eyes for only a moment longer before he reached out and grabbed Alan's hand where it held Tin-Tin against his chest. Penelope grabbed Alan's other hand. As Kyrano took Jeff's hand, he knew that no matter what happened, he was making the right decision. He could only pray that these strangers he knew so well would be able to save their own _and_ his own. And suddenly, as the light appeared before them, he knew they would, though he could not explain how. Because 'his' and 'theirs' were inextricably intertwined.

"You will find a way," he said, squeezing Jeff's hand. "You always do."

As they moved to walk through the portal, Jeff closed his eyes and prayed.


	4. Motivation

_The lines between dimensions blur as each moment, each step brings the Tracys closer and closer either to victory...or to their deaths._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>MOTIVATION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>"You left me for dead!" Belah spat, sneering a face Virgil knew so well into something barely recognizable. "For <em>dead<em>!"

"You should've _stayed_ dead!" Virgil retorted hotly, eyes burning. "How did you get back to your body?"

Belah laughed – a maniacal sound like the squeal of an electric guitar being misused. "Who says I got back to _my_ body?"

Virgil's eyes widened as he looked first at John, then at Gordon, and finally back at Belah. "It's not a disguise! You...you _stole_ the sultan's body?"

"Not bad for a mere mortal," he conceded, chin rising defiantly.

"But...how is that possible? The sultan can't exist over here indefinitely."

"He will not need to. I will use him to get what I want, and then dispose of him."

"That's why _our_ Kyrano has been losing his memories," Brains offered from his seat off to the side of the Lounge. "Because you brought the sultan into our dimension."

"Rather clever plan, wouldn't you say, _genius_?" the Hood sneered. "And it's all working out perfectly. By the time your father and brothers return, you will all be dead. And I will have what came for, and be gone before they know what hit them!"

"I wouldn't bet on that!" came a familiar voice from the hall.

Belah and the other four occupants of the Lounge whirled on them. "Jeff Tracy!"

Penelope, Parker, Jeff and Scott all held rapid-fire laser guns. Alan and Tin-Tin were nowhere to be seen.

"Brains, get down to the sick ward," Jeff said evenly, never taking his eyes from the Hood. He was standing much too close to Virgil, who wore the IDT, for Jeff's liking. "Hood, step away from my son."

"If you kill this body, I will merely use one of you as my vessel. Think about it, Jeff. Do you really want me inside your sons?"

Jeff's jaw worked, barely concealed fury emanating from every pore. "You can't win. Give it up."

Brains scurried from the Lounge and into the elevator, where he was surprised to find someone waiting. "Wha-? Kyrano, y-you can't be here! You can't see him!"

"I know. That is why I waited here for you. Scott has given me this." Kyrano held out the IDT. "I do not know how to use it, but he says you must teach me."

"To what end?" Brains asked as the elevator descended.

"To get the sultan back where he belongs. And to kill my half-brother once and for all."

* * *

><p>"What's it going to be, Hood?"<p>

"I believe we have already settled that, _Jeff_." The Hood stood poised like a cat ready to pounce.

Jeff swallowed hard as he felt Scott tense beside him. If Brains and Kyrano succeeded, there would be no need to shoot the sultan's body. But could they keep the Hood in one place, keep him from harming any of them, long enough for them to do it?

His question was soon answered. They all heard the elevator returning to the main floor of the villa. Jeff's hand squeezed the trigger ever-so-slightly. "One false move and we'll find out just how well you can take over _anyone's_ body."

"How little you know of my ways, foolish mortal," Belah seethed, legs and arms twitching. "Are you prepared to kill the sultan?"

"It's what he would want," Jeff said. "Rather than allowing you to kill us all with _his_ body."

And the standoff continued.

* * *

><p>"I-I'll have to go with you, Kyrano," Brains said as he finished hooking up the blood transfusion lines between the machine holding quarts of syntheblood and Tin-Tin's ravished body. "You may need help getting back."<p>

"How is my daughter?"

"I-It appears according to the, ah, preliminary tests that she's been i-injected with some sort of variation on, ah, ricin, but it doesn't, ah, seem to be directly from _Ricinus communis_. Rather, i-it appears to be a chemically altered, ah, derivative that causes much the same symptoms a-as arsenic poisoning."

"And you say Badan was doing this?"

"A-Alan feels that is so, yes."

"What are her chances?"

"I have enriched this syntheblood with proteins and ribosomes. I can't tell how e-extensive the damage is without more in-depth testing."

"We don't have time for that!" Alan said from his place at her bedside, holding her hand. "And you can't go, Brains. If you do, and something goes wrong, Tin-Tin could die."

"There i-is that."

"Then perhaps you will accompany me..." Kyrano faltered. He should know the young man before him, but could not produce his name. His mouth opened and closed and he looked away, ashamed.

"It's okay, Kyrano," Alan said softly, rising from his seat. "My name's Alan. I'll go with you."

"You must be very careful," Brains said as he clasped the IDT to Kyrano's forearm. "Alan must not be in close proximity to his counterpart or the damage could be, ah, irreversible."

"Got it," Alan said. "You take care of her, Brains. You take _good_ care of her."

"I-I will," Brains nodded. "You can count on it."

With that, Alan faced Kyrano as Brains keyed a command into the IDT. The two men grabbed one another's hands tightly. "Let's go," Alan said.

A loud whine and whirring noise accompanied the appearance of the by-now-familiar blue-white light. The men looked at one another and walked through. Soon enough it disappeared, leaving Brains alone with the beeping of Tin-Tin's life sign monitors. He looked toward the infirmary door, which was locked tight and sealed with an extra titanium outer door. He found himself wondering what was happening in the Lounge with the Hood, and surmised that since he'd neither heard from nor seen Jeff, Scott or any of the others, it probably wasn't too good.

Brains shivered as Tin-Tin moaned. He rushed to her side, smoothing her hair out of her eyes as her eyelids began to flutter. "Your color is looking better," he said softly. He was surprised when her hand caught his.

"Alan," she said weakly, unable to open her eyes all the way. "Where's Alan?"

"Getting help. Now you just rest. This will take some time, ah, Tin-Tin."

"Dear Brains," she whispered, eyelids closing completely. "Thank you." With that, she lapsed into unconsciousness once more.

"Oh, Tin-Tin," Brains said, leaning in and placing a kiss on her forehead. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p>"My God, it doesn't look very much like <em>our<em> home," Alan remarked as he and Kyrano were deposited into the other dimension's Lounge. "I thought Brains said this thing was focused in on the me of this dimension. I don't see myself anywhere."

"He probably moved it off slightly so you would not encounter the other...the other..." Kyrano struggled, then seemed to smile with satisfaction. "Alan."

Alan grinned. "So where do we find Ben? Virgil's room, maybe?"

"Let us look."

The men hurried up the stairs and down the hall to the third bedroom on the left. Alan suddenly sagged against the door.

"What is wrong?"

"I...I don't know," Alan said. "I feel...dizzy."

"It is this dimension," Kyrano said, suddenly sure of his words. "We do not belong here. It will feel adverse to our bodies."

"Then why are you okay?"

"Perhaps because my counterpart is not here?"

Alan nodded as he steadied himself and pressed the chime on the suite's control panel. Within seconds the door swished open. Alan's jaw dropped. Before him was a man he had never before seen but knew instinctively was the one they were looking for. His hair...his eyes...his build...his very mannerisms.

"Alan? What is it?" The man frowned as he looked from one visitor to the other. "And who's this?"

"Are you..." Alan gulped, leaning against the door jamb for support. "My God. Are you _Ben_?"

* * *

><p>Penelope shook her head no at Jeff. The elevator had been empty. It wasn't Brains or Kyrano returning with help. But just as he was contemplating what might become a necessary murder, or at the very least, maiming, of the sultan from another dimension, the Hood visibly reeled, as though hit by some unseen force. Stumbling backwards, he fell to the floor, and in moments had been captured by Virgil, John and Gordon.<p>

The others relaxed their stances and approached. Jeff was the first to speak. "Good work, boys. You okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay, Dad," Gordon said. "What happened to him?"

"I would imagine it has something to do with the fact that he's using a body from the other dimension," Scott surmised. "I don't think he can sustain this for much longer."

"He probably wasn't planning on using it for very long," Jeff replied. "He thought he'd be in and out of here by now."

"And back to his own body," Penny added. "We must work quickly. Virgil, would you and John be so kind as to accompany Parker?"

"Where are we going?" John asked.

"To the Hood's body," Jeff said, eyeing their captive. "To bring it back here. We're going to end this once and for all."

"You will _not_ succeed!" the Hood cried, struggling uselessly against the strong arms that held him. Parker approached with metal binds which he sealed around the Hood's ankles, then used a larger version to bind his elbows to his torso.

"Sorry, then, Sultan," Parker said quietly. "But h'its necessary for now."

Suddenly the sultan's eyes glazed over and what Jeff saw made his breath catch in his throat. "Kyrano?"

"Jeff," the sultan's bruised voice wheezed. "Help me, I am dying. Help me..."

But no sooner had the sultan appeared than he was gone again, replaced by the Hood's evil sneer.

"You're losing, Hood," Jeff said confidently as Gordon and Scott took up position on either side of Belah. "You're losing your grip on him."

Belah didn't reply as Parker, Virgil and John moved over near the balcony. Virgil secured the IDT on his forearm. "Ready, guys?" John and Parker nodded as Virgil keyed in a command. "I scanned his form as best as I could given the data we have on the Hood and what I remember from my encounter with him." He looked across the room at his father and brothers. "We'll be back soon."

"Good luck," Scott said, his eyes sending a silent second message. Virgil nodded, and soon the blinding whiteness appeared. Within seconds it, along with the trio, was gone.

* * *

><p>"Alan, why are you acting like you don't know me? Are you all right?" Ben approached his door, frowning as he came closer to the duo. "Alan, you look...different."<p>

"I _am_ different. Listen, Ben, I don't have much time to explain." Alan visibly swayed, caught by Kyrano on one side and Ben on the other. "I'm from another dimension."

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

"It is true. I am Kyrano. Perhaps you have heard of me."

"Kyrano? Uh...well, yes, I remember Dad mentioning you. But I thought you were a king in Malaysia. What are you doing here?"

"I am Kyrano from a second dimension. The sultan of Malaysia has been abducted by my half-brother."

"Alan, you've gone stark raving mad and so has your friend here."

"No, Ben, listen to me. There is another Alan on this island. Please, you have to believe me. I'm not _your_ Alan." Alan sagged further into Kyrano, who struggled to hold him upright. "Please, Ben, just locate your Alan on GPS. Please."

Ben frowned. "You're nuts." He walked over to a computer monitor embedded in the wall of his sitting room. Flipping it on, he pressed two buttons in succession, showing the location of everyone on Tracy Island. His eyes widened as he turned slowly to face those at his door. "My God," he whispered. "This says Alan's down by the pool."

"Exactly," Alan breathed. "_Your_ Alan is. Please. Will you help us?"

Ben ran out the door past them, down the steps and into the Lounge. He raced across the room and out onto the balcony. Sure enough, Alan was sitting in a chaise lounge, looking very much asleep, accompanied by Gordon in a second chaise to his right. Ben turned as Kyrano and Alan entered the Lounge. "What in the _hell_ is going on?"

"Return with us. You must help us get the sultan back here. We need someone from your dimension," Kyrano explained, by now almost entirely supporting Alan's weight.

Ben's scowl deepened. "Why me? Why now?"

"The Hood has the sultan's body. Virgil, John and Parker are bringing Gaat's body back to our island," Alan explained. "But we need someone from _here_ to make sure the sultan gets back here safely."

"You were chosen because..." Kyrano looked at Alan. "As I understand it, you are not in existence in our dimension."

"I'm not in _existence_?"

"No," Alan shook his head, finally collapsing to his knees. "On our side, you were John's conjoined twin, and you died when they separated the two of you. And Virgil didn't die."

Ben gasped. "You mean, Virgil's actually _alive_?"

Kyrano nodded.

"And so are Dad and Scott."

"No," Ben breathed. "It _can't_ be."

"Will you help us?" Alan croaked as Kyrano knelt next to him. "Ben, please, I...I'm begging you."

Ben looked back out at where Gordon and Alan – _his_ Gordon and Alan – still napped next to the pool. He then looked back to where the second Alan was very clearly in distress on the Lounge floor. He didn't understand any of what was happening, but he felt the urgency, and to see his baby brother in such a state tore at his heartstrings...even if it wasn't _really_ his brother.

"Fine. I'll come. But won't I have the same problem you're having?"

Kyrano shook his head. "Brains does not believe you will simply because you do not exist on our side. There is no one to drain your substance as there is with Alan."

Ben nodded. "What do I do?"

"Quickly," Kyrano said. "Alan, we must go before you weaken further."

Alan lifted his hand, his eyes having difficulty focusing on the rather small buttons the IDT displayed. Slowly he keyed the sequence in just as they heard a splash from the pool.

"Take our hands," Kyrano said, reaching out to Ben.

Ben approached them and sank to his knees in front of them. He took Kyrano's offered hand and reached out for Alan. When the brothers' hands met, it felt like a shockwave ripped through them, but there was no time for either to contemplate it as the portal door appeared. Slowly Ben and Kyrano hauled Alan to his feet, and the three walked through.

* * *

><p>"Where should we look?" Parker asked as the men stared at the cavernous room filled with ugly but priceless statues depicting demons and gods of the netherworld. "Coo, this place h'is gigantic!"<p>

"We're going to have to split up," Virgil said. "John, you go up the stairs. Parker, take the left. I'll take the right."

The men nodded and headed off in their respective directions. Virgil noticed a hall further ahead and walked into it. At the end of the short hall was another room, much smaller than the one they'd entered. At the far end of the room was what appeared to be a black marble table, possibly an altar. And lying atop it was the still body of an Asiatic male, wearing nothing but a black pair of leggings. On the other side of the altar were two female slaves, who shrieked and cringed back against the wall when they saw him.

"That's got to be him," Virgil breathed. He raised his watch to his face. "John, I've got him. Get Parker and come to the hall to the right of where we were standing before."

"F.A.B.," John replied.

Virgil held up a hand in the women's direction, trying to calm them. They silenced, their eyes wide as he approached their master. The man on the altar didn't move except to breathe. Virgil reached out and poked at the Hood's body. He would've known the bastard anywhere after his experience with him in the other dimension. "Okay, then, guess you're coming with me, asshole."

With that, Virgil hiked him into a fireman's carry just as he heard gunfire from the main room. "Shit!" he cried, running for the hall. Before he was even halfway along, he heard Parker cry out.

* * *

><p>Brains analyzed the samples he'd taken from Tin-Tin's skin, both subcutaneous layers and surface, as well as the blood sample he'd taken before setting up the transfusion. He compared it to the current blood sample and a small smiled graced his features. "Looks like it's working," he said softly, looking over at the sleeping form on the bed. "Thank God."<p>

He was startled by the appearance of a portal. He looked away until the sounds abated, then turned back to see who had arrived. When he did indeed see them, his eyes widened. "Alan! What's wrong?" He rushed to Alan as he collapsed into Ben's arms.

"You...must be Ben," Brains said as Ben lifted his little brother into his arms.

"I am," Ben replied, placing Alan on the bed next to Tin-Tin. "He's weak, can you help him?"

Brains nodded. "I think so."

"Anything from Jeff?"

"No, Kyrano, I haven't heard a-a word. I have no i-idea what's happening up there, but Tin-Tin is on the mend."

"My daughter," Kyrano said, approaching her and kissing her forehead. "I am so...so..." Before he could finish the thought, he collapsed to the floor.

"My_God_!" Brains cried. He knelt next to the fallen man, then turned to look at the unfamiliar Tracy standing before him. "You must hurry to the Lounge. I don't know what you'll find, so arm yourself first." Ben looked on worriedly. "I-If the sultan doesn't return to your dimension, this Kyrano is going to die."

Ben nodded, swallowing hard. "Weapons in the same place here?"

Brains nodded as he easily lifted the frail Malaysian into his arms and placed him into a bed on the other side of Tin-Tin. "Panel 3, north wall. Code 8-1-3-0-alpha-theta-4."

"You're kidding. That's the code _we_ use."

Brains, however, was no longer in the moment as he studied Kyrano's life sign readings. Ben moved to a spot near the sick ward's front door and clicked a panel open. He then entered the familiar code and a second panel slid aside, revealing a small arsenal. Pocketing two handguns, he grabbed an automatic uzi-like laser gun and clicked it on. Turning for one last look back at the unconscious three and their caretaker, he closed the weapons safe and keyed open the sick ward door. Entering the hall, he locked it tight behind him, sealing it once again with the titanium outer door.

Soon he was in the elevator. Soon, he knew, he would be seeing two people that, to him, were dead. And one who hadn't lived past infancy. He wondered at what was happening, thinking he must be dreaming. He _had_ to be. A mirror of his family in another dimension somewhere? A place where he didn't exist? Was that even _possible_?

But apparently it was. For as the elevator opened onto the main floor of the villa, he knew instinctively that it was different from the one he was used to. He walked out into the hall and turned to peer into the Lounge. His breath caught in his throat.

"Father?" he breathed, chest tightening. "_Scott_?"

* * *

><p>The Hood gasped as the sultan's body seized. "You're running out of time, Hood," Jeff said triumphantly. "What'll it be?"<p>

Before the Hood could respond, the appearance of a portal blinded and deafened them all. When it disappeared, Scott was the first to see Virgil carrying a body hiked over his shoulder. "Is that him?"

Virgil nodded. "You're damn right it is."

"Parker!" Penelope cried. "Oh, Parker, you're injured!"

"H'It's nothing, milady. Just a scratch."

"Nonsense, you've been shot!"

"Take him to the sick ward," Jeff said. Penelope nodded, and soon she was leading Parker into the hall, a trail of blood behind him on the hardwood floor.

"Now," Jeff said. "Here's your body. Time to switch."

"When _hell_ freezes over!" Belah spat, groaning from the effort.

A voice from behind startled them all. "It's just frozen, asshole."

Slowly they all turned. Jeff visibly reeled, steadied by Scott's hand as the men gaped openly. Virgil placed the Hood's body on a sofa near the portrait wall and approached. "Ben," he said. "Ben, you won't know me."

"Virgil?" he asked as the men looked into one another's eyes. "You're Virgil."

"I am," Virgil smiled.

"Can this be _real_?" Ben looked beyond Virgil to his father and Scott, looking healthy and none the worse for wear. "Father?"

Tears sprang to Jeff's eyes as he blinked rapidly through them. "Benjamin..." he breathed. "My God, look at you."

Ben ran forward into his father's arms. "I thought I'd never see you again." He squeezed Jeff so tight he thought he might just break a few ribs. Then he looked up into Scott's eyes. "And you...I...I watched you fall..."

"I know," Scott said, the look on his face belying the rampant emotion running wildly through him. "Ben, it's..." Scott stuck out his hand. "It's good to meet you."

Ben smiled warmly and shoved past the hand, enveloping his brother in a hug. "I didn't believe them," he said into Scott's tee shirt. "I didn't believe Alan or Kyrano."

"How very fucking _touching_," came a nasty voice from behind them. Gordon clocked Belah up side the head with his elbow, his eyes not moving from the brother he'd never known.

But it was John who was at the most loss for what to say or do. He stood near the balcony windows, simply staring at the man who was his twin in another place. The man who could've been his very own twin from _this_ dimension if he'd had light blonde hair and blue eyes. The similarities between John and Ben struck everyone in the room, but for John, especially, it hit home very hard.

Ben walked across the room. "John. Hello." John just stood there in shock as Ben approached. He stiffened when Ben reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. This is probably as hard for you as it is for me to see Father and Scott again."

When John spoke, his voice was choked. "I always..." He looked away, swallowing hard. "I always wondered..." He turned and looked back at his twin, face unreadable.

"I never thought I'd see him as a grown man. He was so tiny when he died."

"I know, Dad. I remember."

Jeff's head snapped over to look at his eldest. "Remember? My God, Kyrano!" He looked down as the Hood fell off the couch, his body shaking and sweating. Tears streamed out of his eyes. "Dammit! Quick, we have to somehow get the Hood out of the sultan's body and back into his own!"

"How?" Scott asked as Ben and John turned with the others to face the center of the room.

"He said if we killed the sultan, he would be forced to take another body," Jeff said.

"Father, you're not saying...you can't be."

"I don't see that we have a choice. Get Brains up here with a hypo and the means to resuscitate."

Virgil hesitated only a moment before heading to the intercom.

"You...cannot...succeed. I will take one of _your_ bodies!" the Hood ground out through clenched teeth.

"We'll just remove your ability to do so," Gordon said menacingly as he rose to his feet.

"Help me," came a different voice from the floor. "Please, Jeff..."

Jeff rushed to the sultan's side, kneeling next to him and grabbing his hand. "We will. Virgil, get Penny to bring Kyrano up here."

"But, Dad!"

"We _must_! None of us knows how to do this!"

"Penny said he's passed out."

"Then tell her to revive him, she knows how."

Virgil and Scott exchanged worried glances before Scott nodded almost imperceptibly. Once again, Virgil was on the intercom.

* * *

><p>Penelope frowned as she got off the intercom. She went to a nearby cabinet and searched until she found the proper hypo. She approached Kyrano and stuck it into his neck, praying that it would work and he would be able to do what Virgil had said.<p>

Kyrano moaned softly as the hypo began to take effect, artificial adrenaline coursing through his body. "Kyrano, can you stand?"

His eyes blinked open as he struggled to sit up. Penny helped him, holding his hands as he tried to come to his senses. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lady Penelope. Kyrano, Jeff needs you in the Lounge. Now."

"Jeff..." Kyrano looked around, noting Tin-Tin to his left and Alan further over. "Jeff needs me."

"Yes. You must help him. Can you walk?"

"I...believe so." Kyrano slid off the bed, much of his weight against Penelope. She supported him as best she could and the two headed for the sick ward door.

* * *

><p>"He's dying," Scott said as he checked the Hood's pulse for the fifth time in as many minutes. "His heart rate's slowing."<p>

"Our Kyrano must not be faring any better."

"Why don't I just take him back to _my_ island?" Ben asked.

"Because the sultan's body will regain strength with Gaat still inside," Jeff responded, unable to quite tear his eyes from his missing son. "No, we have to get the Hood out first and then you can take the sultan back."

Ben nodded. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with John, it was a sight Jeff never thought he'd see. He knew damn well this wasn't _his_ Benjamin, but it was impossible to ignore that he was, somehow, part of the genes they all shared as Tracys. He was like a mix between Virgil and John, carrying characteristics of them all. Jeff could even see some of his own father and mother in them and suddenly wished Ruth were there to meet the grandson she'd seen only once, and then from a distance through an incubator wall.

Jeff remembered it all so clearly, as though it had happened only yesterday.

She'd had to have a Cesarean section, as the conjoined twins were unable to exit the birth canal due to their shared chest cavity. John, it was obvious, had been the stronger and less frail of the two. It had been a heart-wrenching decision he and Lucille had had to make, but in the end it was either lose one son or both. They had agreed the greatest chances of survival would be with John as the larger and more robust twin.

And so they had signed the papers that would kill little Benjamin William Tracy, so named for an astronaut friend of Jeff's, Dr. William Benjamin Lenoir. Bill had been good to Jeff, and as such he had decided to take the older man's middle name and first name and switch them for one of their twins.

Throughout the entire pregnancy there had been no indication that anything was wrong. No way to tell, even through the advanced screenings that could be done with color ultrasound, that the boys shared only one heart. For Ben was always along Lucy's spine each time they went for doctor's appointments. It had come as a great shock to them all, and he knew Lucille had never forgiven herself for what she felt was somehow her fault, though everyone knew she couldn't have done a thing about it.

He'd never forgiven him_self_ for killing his son, and yet every time he looked at John, he knew it was better to have him alive and well with him in life than to have had neither infant survive. And now, impossibly, the very man Virgil had told him about was standing in his Lounge, right next to John. Looking as though he was meant to be there. Six sons instead of five. Jeff's heart felt like it was about to squeeze right out of his chest as he contemplated the lunacy of somehow keeping Ben there.

Innately, he knew it was wrong. And selfish. His counterpart may have been dead along with Scott's, but there were three brothers on the other side who needed Ben back. Jeff mentally kicked himself for even allowing the thought to take hold in his mind, but at the same time longed to know this child of his, different as he might be from the Ben who died.

He was shaken from his reverie by a hand on his arm. "Kyrano," he said softly.

The slightly shorter man looked at him, and Jeff had to keep from gasping aloud. For the eyes were almost completely blank. "I haven't much time," Kyrano choked out. "I do not know if I can do what Penelope suggests, but I must try."

"Kyrano...dammit, look at him, he's not going to survive this!" Jeff said to Brains, who was kneeling next to the sultan's now-still body.

Brains nodded to indicate his agreement with Jeff's assessment. Jeff turned back to his friend. His best friend who was already very nearly gone. "I can't let you, Kyrano, I...I didn't know how bad off you were."

"It is not your choice to make, Jeff," Kyrano wheezed as he pulled himself away from Penelope and collapsed on the floor next to the sultan's body. "Bring the body of my half-brother to me," he said, closing his eyes and placing his left hand on the sultan's chest.

Virgil moved to lift Gaat's body, depositing it on the floor next to Kyrano. He backed away as Kyrano's right hand touched the Hood's chest. Kyrano cried out as the sultan's body visibly arched off the floor. The room's occupants watched in shock and amazement as Kyrano's left arm vibrated uncontrollably. It moved up into his head and torso until he looked as though he was having a violent seizure, yet his hands didn't move from the two chests. The transfer progressed into his right arm and soon he was flailing like a fish out of water.

Jeff's muscles tensed as his best friend continued to cry out and groan in what appeared to be severe pain. "Kyrano..." he breathed. He'd promised to find the man, and bring him home. But not for this. Not to die. "No." He couldn't lose him after having only just found him. He just _couldn't_. "Kyrano!" he cried out, lunging forward onto his knees behind him.

He placed his hands on Kyrano's shoulders, gripping them as tightly as he could, arms shaking as he continued to convulse. But his hands kept slipping away, unable to keep their grip on the constantly moving man. Jeff bent low and wrapped his arms around Kyrano's torso. He buried his head in the back of Kyrano's neck, willing him to complete the task quickly, to be all right. Willing him to live through this nightmare.

Scott saw his father's body sag into Kyrano's, his head and body beginning to thrash in time with his friend's. "There's got to be something we can do!"

"Can we help?" Virgil asked, standing at his brother's side.

"I don't _know_!" Scott anguished as their father continued to seize.

"Help...!" Jeff barked, his voice rough and faded. "_Scott_!"

As Jeff's eyes rolled back in his head, Scott fell to his knees behind his father and wrapped his arms around him. Virgil fell in line, followed by John and Gordon. Ben looked up as a figure appeared in the doorway from the hall. It was Alan, who was watching his father and brothers in disbelief. Without a word he positioned himself behind Gordon and held tight.

Penelope looked across the room as a myriad of emotions played across Ben's face. One by one the Tracys began to lose consciousness. Jeff, then Scott, then Virgil, then John. "Help them," she said, startling Ben. "Please, you _must_."

Ben nodded and ran over to sit behind Alan. He grabbed his little brother in a bear hug and held on for dear life as the entire line of men shook and groaned together.

"My God, Brains," Penelope breathed, grabbing his hand tightly. "My _God_."

* * *

><p>Tin-Tin blinked slowly awake, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the bright lights of the sick ward. She looked around and found herself alone except for Parker, who was apparently asleep on a bed near the front wall. Slowly she sat up, noting the IV, the blood transfusion device nearby and the queasiness in her stomach. "Hello?" she called out. When she received no response, she tried again. "Hello? Brains?" Gritting her teeth, she pulled the IV needle from her arm and hopped off the bed, holding her hand over where it had been. She went to the linen closet, grabbed a small green surgical sheet and wrapped it around the wound, tying it tightly in place.<p>

She turned off the IV and checked Parker's life signs on the monitor above the bed. He seemed to be fine, and so she moved to the sick ward door. Noting it was not only closed and locked but sealed off by the second protective door outside, she wondered what on earth was happening. How had she even gotten there? And where was everyone? Taking a deep breath and tying a thin white robe around her body, she keyed in the access code and left the ward, moving cautiously out into the hall. Then she stopped. "What if they're in trouble?" she wondered aloud.

Quickly she moved back into the ward to the weapons locker and opened it, palming a laser pistol and shoving two new clips into the bathrobe's pockets. Feeling much more prepared, she moved into the hall again and down toward the elevator. She stumbled once, but forced herself to continue walking until she reached it and pressed the call button. It seemed to take an eternity to arrive, but when it did she entered and keyed in the code that would take her to the main floor.

At last the doors swished open. She was greeted with the sounds of yelling, groaning and general confusion and mayhem as she stepped into the Lounge. Tin-Tin couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing.

Lying on the floor were two Kyrano's..._two!_...along with Jeff, Scott, Virgil, John and... "Oh, my God!" she cried.

Penelope whirled around. "Tin-Tin! You shouldn't be out of bed!"

"What's happening? Why is my uncle here? _Why_? What has happened to my father?" She moved toward the two Kyranos. "Which one _is_ my father?"

Brains was working with Ben to move the unconscious Tracys away from Gaat as the latter began to moan and move around.

"Tin-Tin, please, you aren't well." With that, Penny took up position next to the Hood, now back in his rightful body, her gun pointed directly at his chest. He was now clad in the binds that had only moments before been on the sultan. Ben had seen to that. But Penny wasn't taking _any_ chances.

"Please, someone, tell me...who is _that_?"

Ben looked up as he and John finished putting Jeff on the settee. "You must be Tin-Tin."

"Who _are_ you? You look...familiar somehow."

"I'm Ben. I'm..." He looked down at the unconscious man before him. "I'm John's twin."

Tin-Tin's head began to spin. "Father!" she cried, unwilling to try and understand Ben's words. She knelt between the two men who looked almost exactly alike except for one being much more gaunt than the other. She placed her hands on either side of the gaunt one's face. "Oh, Father," she said, her voice trembling as the laser pistol dropped from her hand onto the floor next to him.

"Everyone seems to be okay," Ben said as he and Brains settled Scott into the couch. "Vitals are good."

Brains was checking Virgil's pulse when a shriek made him and everyone else jump. "_Father!_" Brains and Penelope knelt next to their Kyrano. "He's stopped breathing! _No_!"

Within seconds she'd begun puffing air into his mouth as Brains pumped his chest. Over and over again, but to no avail. He just wouldn't breathe. Tears flowed from her eyes as she held his chin tilted and tried so desperately to breathe life back into the man she loved so much.

Brains looked up at Penny even as he continued the chest compressions and shook his head no. At that moment, Penny's eyes went wide and before his eyes, she flew backwards, seemingly of her own volition, sailing across the Lounge and slamming into a coffee table. Brains and Tin-Tin gasped as they saw what had really happened. For the Hood was sitting upright, his eyes squinting at them, a look of pure hatred upon his face.

"You will not beat me so quickly," he ground out.

"Jesus," Ben breathed as he laid John down on top of an oriental rug near the geisha statue. For Belah's muscles strained, and the metal binds around his torso and arms, as well as those around his ankles, groaned, cracked and then broke, sending bits of metal flying in all directions.

His eyes darted down to the pistol Tin-Tin had dropped, which Brains was partially sitting on. Tin-Tin saw his eyes move and a split-second later, grabbed the gun just as he lunged for it. She rose to her feet as Brains scrambled out of the way, stopping near the settee. Belah, too, rose to his feet and stared his niece down.

"You are no match for me, little girl. You are a sultana in name only. Your father is dead, and soon there will be no more Kyranos on this earth."

"You bastard," she whispered. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she took aim at his chest. All she could think is that her father was dead. "You won't win. Not this time."

"How can I lose? If you kill me, I will merely inhabit one of the men in this room, _niece_. Surely you know that much. Or did my brother not educate you in the ways of mysticism?"

She watched in horror as he reached down and grabbed her father's lifeless body by the neck, squeezing it as he used that one point to lift him into the air. "At last my brother is dead," he grinned nastily, his eyes never leaving Tin-Tin. "And now, his daughter."

Belah made as if to throw Kyrano's body at her, but his eyes widened in surprise and his hand released the elder man, whose body fell to the floor like a ragdoll. He sank to his knees, shifting slightly sideways, and Tin-Tin saw what appeared to be a jackknife sticking out of the back of his neck. She looked up to find Ben standing behind him, small traces of fresh blood on his still-raised hand.

Finally Belah got hold of the knife and yanked it from his neck. Blood spurted out, covering Ben's legs as Penny groaned in pain from across the room. The Hood began whispering in Malay, and Tin-Tin recognized the meaning of the words.

"Oh, no, you don't," she said. "You won't be taking any more of us. Not ever again."

And with those words, she fired.


	5. Action

_With the Hood dead and gone, the Tracys must get back on track. But decisions are made that will have lasting ramifications on those who call the island home._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>ACTION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>An eerie silence descended upon the villa. There wasn't a sound as Tin-Tin stared at the carcass before her. Blood and bits of flesh and bone were scattered everywhere, covering Ben, the floor, even those Tracys standing a distance away. Her own bathrobe looked like she'd taken a red shower. The gun clattered to the hard, smooth wood.<p>

Eyes met with eyes all around. Disbelief was evident in the faces of those who stood as though attending with all respect the funeral rite of some ancient people. What was left of Belah Gaat rested askance to his half-brother. Born of one mother, joined through life by hatred and fear, they were no more. Tin-Tin bowed over her father's body, shoulders shaking as silent tears brought forth a dreaded ache that had begun to spread throughout her insides, tearing at her like a wolf clawing for her heart.

Her fists balled pieces of her father's simple robe, holding it, pulling him up until he was cradled in her arms, his lifeless head rolling into her chest. She reached out and clasped his hand, drawing it to her body and holding it, willing that which she knew to be true away with every fiber of her being. When she raised her eyes, vision blurred by tears that would not leave, she saw her own sorrow mirrored in the eyes of the family she had come to know and love as her own. Even the one she did not know seemed to be at a loss as he looked away.

Ben turned and locked eyes with Jeff.

"Get the sultan back," Jeff said, his voice so low it barely rumbled forth from his throat. It startled everyone, breaking through the silence like the boom of a cannon, shattering the fragile glass bubble of this aftermath world. "Now."

Ben nodded and picked the sultan's body up, gently cradling him in his arms. Brains quietly programmed the IDT, and Ben stopped as the engineer raised his arm toward the hall. "Scott?" he said. "Father?"

Jeff approached and laid a hand on the arm of the son he'd never known. "We'll see each other again."

Ben smiled and nodded, blinking away unshed tears. The loud, whining, blinding portal appeared before them and with one last look, Ben turned and walked into it. The moment the portal snapped shut, there was a loud gasping for air from the floor.

"Father!" Tin-Tin cried as Kyrano arched from the hardwood floor.

Jeff ran and knelt at Tin-Tin's side while Brains scurried closer to check Kyrano's vital signs. His eyes opened. He smiled at his daughter's tear-stained face, then looked to Jeff, whose own eyes were brimming. He grasped Kyrano's hand. "Do you know who I am?" he whispered, praying with all his might. "Do you remember?"

_Please, God. Please let him remember._

Kyrano's smile widened as his eyes fluttered closed and his head slowly dropped back to Tin-Tin's lap. "Jeff Tracy," he responded in a breath of air. "I remember."

One lone tear trickled down Jeff's face.

* * *

><p>"I have to return, Alan. You must understand. My father is in no condition to help Malaysia. The region is unstable, my people will die."<p>

Alan leaned against the wall of windows. Looking out over the blue ocean, the bluer sky, sunlight beating down on Paradise; everything seemed so calm and peaceful. Here they were untouched by the troubles of the world. Here, Tin-Tin was safe from harm. If he sent her back out into the world, back into the angry, hate-filled country of her birth, she had to contend not only with the man who'd tried to kill her, but with his followers as well. Not to mention the reports of insurgencies he'd found on the 'net this morning, verifying her words, her reasons for wanting to go back.

"It's only been a day, Tin-Tin," he said, turning to face her as she relaxed on his bed. "You killed your half-uncle yesterday. Your father almost died yesterday. All of us did, yourself included."

"I know," she said, smiling and patting the bed next to her. "But we're all right. Aren't we?"

He knew a deeper question was being asked. Alan walked over and sat down next to her, his hand on her face, thumb rubbing slowly along the high cheekbone. "Yeah," he said with a smile. "We're okay."

"Then come with me." Her green eyes sparkled hopefully. "I won't be in any danger if you're there to look out for me."

Alan looked away, shaking his head. More to clear the cobwebs than in answer to her, but her face puckered nonetheless at his silent refusal. "It's not that I don't want to be with you. God, you must know that by now." He looked back down at her. "My family. International Rescue, the Corporation...there's still so much to do."

"And why do you have to be the one to do it?"

"Tin-Tin, I'm a member of this family!" he replied hotly. "I can't just _leave_ them!"

"But you can leave me."

"_You're_ the one leaving. You know you can stay here." Alan turned, grasping her hands. "We can have a life here together. We can be married."

Tin-Tin shook her head. She sat up and scooted off the other side of the bed, sliding her slender fingers away from his. "Nothing has changed, Alan. You still don't understand." She stopped and looked him in the eyes. "I have an obligation as much as you have." She stood in the middle of his bedroom for a moment. Her back was to him as she continued. "I love you. I always have and I always will."

The hiss of his suite door swishing closed was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, and Alan ground his teeth in response. If Tin-Tin left him now, would he ever see her again? He couldn't leave his father. His brothers. They were so close to getting Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 4 built, the new ones over on Mateo Island. Not to mention having to oversee the work in Manhattan and Kansas. So much to do, and only six Tracy men to do it. If he left, there would only be five.

He bowed, putting his head in his hands. His duty, his loyalty, they belonged to his family. To International Rescue. To those who had loved him and raised him and put their lives on the line for his. But his heart... Only this morning he had told Scott of Tin-Tin's request, of her wish for him to return to Malaysia with her. Scott had not reacted well, but had rightly told him the decision was his to make. Though Alan knew what Scott _wanted_ him to do, his heart kept screaming for the thing Scott _didn't_ want him to do.

But this wasn't Scott's life. It was his.

"Son?"

Alan looked up, turning just enough on the bed to see his father's face. He hadn't even heard him enter. When his hand brushed his cheek, he was surprised to find it wet. Had he been crying? "Father." Hurried movements to brush the remaining wetness away.

"I just saw Tin-Tin, she came down to the sick room to see her father." Alan nodded and looked back out across the balcony. "Scott tells me she wants you to go to Malaysia with her."

"Yeah," he nodded, voice cracking.

"And you said no." Alan nodded again. "Because of us."

"Of course because of you. You're my family, Dad. I can't leave you now. Not now."

Jeff nodded, chewing on his lip for a moment before taking a seat next to his youngest son. "Family doesn't only extend to blood relatives."

Alan knew he was talking about the Kyranos, and Brains. Penelope, Parker. All the people they knew and loved. "I know."

"Maybe you're meant to make your _own_ family now, son." Alan looked up. "Remember what we talked about before we left for Malaysia?"

"Yeah, I remember. But I just can't leave you now. There's so much to do. So much rebuilding left to be done, of our businesses, our family..."

Long moments of silence seemed to stretch into hours, in reality the clock ticking mere minutes away. Jeff kept his eyes focused on the window, though he wasn't seeing the cloudless sky. "Don't let it go, Alan. I know what it's like to lose the love of your life."

Alan looked...really _looked_...at Jeff Tracy. For the first time not seeing him as his father to emulate and live up to, to please and work hard for. He saw the pain in his gray eyes, the unspoken love, both for him and the mother he'd never known. As equals, on eye level, thoughts passed silently into the ether until the corners of Alan's mouth curved into a smile.

"They won't let me marry her, you know."

"Doesn't matter one way or the other. What matters is you're doing what you want to do. If you want to go, you..." Jeff stopped and cleared his throat. "You have my blessing."

"Thanks, Dad," Alan said as his father rose and headed for the door. This time when he looked out over the rolling azure waves, he saw not just an ocean of water, but an ocean of possibilities. He'd find Tin-Tin. Now. And he'd tell her. He'd tell her he loved her and would never leave her side no matter where she went or what she did. And he'd protect her. With his dying breath, if need be.

A pang in his chest reminded him of all he'd be leaving behind, but his father was right. He'd almost lost the love of his life twice now. He wasn't about to let it happen again. His family would always be there for him. It was Tin-Tin who needed him now. His thoughts traveled back to her gray complexion, her shallow breath, the very look of death surrounding her.

His hands balled into fists. Badan was going to pay. He would see to that.

* * *

><p>Jeff wandered through the halls of the second level beneath the main house. He moved slowly, feeling older than he should. He wondered if Lucille had ever seen Ben the way he'd seen him. Wondered at this son of theirs, at his looks and his personality, at what might've been had their own Ben survived. He'd seen the look on John's face, couldn't imagine what John was feeling, but knew what <em>he<em> was feeling. It was taking every fiber of restraint he had left not to open a portal and head over to the other dimension. But in one of his few moments awake, Kyrano had urged caution.

"I know you wish to see him, Jeff," he'd said. "But look at all which has happened because the two dimensions have crossed. Look what has been lost. Some things are not meant to be."

Damn Kyrano and his infuriating, completely correct logic. Of course some things were not meant to be. He wasn't meant to live a full, long life with Lucy. Alan, it seemed, was not meant to stay with them on the island. Tracy Corp's headquarters wasn't meant to be in Manhattan. Tin-Tin wasn't meant to be an engineer for International Rescue. So many things weren't meant to be. And he knew the Ben they'd met wasn't truly his son, but he was the son of _a_ Jeff Tracy, and that made him family as far as Jeff was concerned.

He'd never had to confront anything like this. Other dimensions, traveling between them. Two Kyranos, one sultan and one not. Two Scotts, one dead and one not. No Virgil. No Ben. He stopped outside the lab door and leaned against the wall. He knew John was in there and figured he wouldn't talk about it, but at the very least Jeff had to try. That look on John's face...it had broken his heart. His sons all had a partner in crime. All except John. And now, after all these years, to find out that a Ben _did_ exist somewhere...Jeff rubbed his temple. Made his damn head hurt.

Quietly he entered the lab. Against the wall of the room to the left he saw his son's back. He strolled slowly toward him, careful to make enough noise to let him know he was there. John was toying with a small box about the size of a cellphone but twice as thick. He had a tiny screwdriver and a tiny pair of pliers and from the side, Jeff could see his brow was furrowed in concentration. Things were so quiet save for the clicking and clacking of the instruments that Jeff nearly jumped out of his skin when John slammed the box down on the bench in frustration and cursed a blue streak.

He couldn't help himself. He started to laugh. John turned and looked at him, then joined in. "Sorry, Father," he said between breaths. "I can't get that last circuit to connect like I want."

"It's okay, John," Jeff said, laying a hand on his shoulder as he eased onto the stool next to him. "What are you after with this?"

"Well, it's part of the new component for the auto-relay of Five," John explained, picking up the discarded box and showing its insides to Jeff. "I want to connect the voice interface to the mike setup in Launch Control, see if I can't help Brains get the verbal commands to take. Just trying to tweak this semiconductor set here," he finished, pointing to a small cluster of round, black circles in one corner of the box.

"He really thinks he can get VI to work?" Jeff asked, genuinely intrigued. "I thought it was just an idea."

"We _both_ think we can get it to work if I could just get this damned interface hooked up correctly." John plopped the box back down on the bench. "What brings you down here?"

Jeff shrugged and looked around for an excuse. "Just wanted to see how things were going."

"You want to talk to me about Ben," John said, not looking him in the eye.

Jeff eyed him. "The thought had crossed my mind."

"Well, I don't want to talk about him, Dad. He's not _my_ brother."

"I know that, son, I know that."

John rose to his feet and leaned his butt against the bench. "Why did he have to exist over there, in that other place?" he asked, more of himself than anyone. "Why over there and not over here?"

"I don't know," Jeff sighed. "I know about as much about this interdimensional stuff as you do."

"You know I've taken that IDT about a dozen times in the last two days with the idea that I was going to head over there?"

An alarm bell sounded in Jeff's head, but he suppressed the tingle it caused to run up and down his spine. "Doesn't surprise me. I've contemplated it myself."

"Really?" John cocked his head.

"Yes, really." Jeff looked up at his middle child. "Does that surprise _you_?"

"A little, I guess," John replied nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders.

"He was so tiny," Jeff whispered, a faraway look in his eyes. "So tiny."

The men were silent, each lost in their own thoughts for a time until John spoke. "Dad?"

"Mm?"

"Let's go."

"Go?" Jeff looked at him. "Go where?"

"Over there."

"Over...you mean, to Ben's side?"

"Yes!" John smiled. "Why not? We both _want_ to."

"I...I don't know, son. Kyrano says—"

"Dammit, he's not Kyrano's twin _brother_!" John hissed, face screwed into a look Jeff couldn't untangle.

"No, and he's not yours, either," Jeff reminded him.

John whirled on him, looking for all the world like he might just haul off and deck his father. But the anger melted along with his body as it sank down onto the stool. "I know he's not _my_ Benjamin," John said, looking at his hands as they fiddled with the hem of his shorts. "But he's more Benjamin than I've ever known. Don't I have a right to get to know him?"

"What happens if something goes wrong? We don't know that these IDTs will work forever."

"So it's okay for _you_ to think about going, but not me?"

"That's not what I said."

"Just forget it," John sighed loudly, swiveling back around and picking up the VI box. "It doesn't matter anyway. Like you said, he's not _my_ twin."

Jeff's face fell. There was no talking to John now. The subject was effectively closed. He wished he could do something, but he knew he couldn't. "I'll need you in the lounge in one hour for a briefing," he said softly as he rose to his feet. "And John, whether or not you think so, I _do_ understand. More than you can ever know."

John turned silently and watched his dad leave the lab. His brother. His very own brother, the one he'd lost before he even knew his place in the world. He glanced across the room at a locked cabinet. He knew both Interdimensional Travel Devices were inside, safe and sound. It would take nothing for him to go over, key in the pass code and take one out. Nothing for him to set it and find Ben.

He looked back toward the now-shut lab door. His father trusted him. He trusted him or he wouldn't have left him alone in here with the IDTs. If he went and picked one up, using it to travel to the other side, he'd break that trust. He stared at the VI box, not seeing any of the wires and circuitry before him. But what of his own heart? The heart he had shared with baby Benjamin. The heart he'd kept. He wanted...no, _needed_...to know his brother. Even if only to know what he did, how he laughed, what his hobbies were.

He glanced back up at the locked cabinet. Maybe after the debriefing...Father would never have to know. Nobody would. Nobody at all.

* * *

><p>Gordon looked on as Scott and Virgil entered the humongous hangar where Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 4 were in varying stages of completion. They were on the island of Mateo, twenty minutes from Tracy Island as the crow flies. It had been decided that the 'birds should be rebuilt there, and then once fit for air and sea, they'd be moved into their proper hangars on Tracy Island. The two eldest were just returning with some of the sheet metal and other components for all three Thunderbirds and Gordon had been waiting with bated breath, for his 'bird would be the first finished. And he couldn't <em>wait<em>.

He frowned as his watch buzzed. When he saw it was Alan, he suddenly had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was only one reason Al would call him now, right before a debrief, mere hours after the conversation that had left Gordon at a loss. "Yeah, Al," he said flatly into the watch as Virgil laughed over something Scott said in the distance.

"You coming back soon?"

"Virg and Scott just arrived, I have to help them unload the supplies."

Alan looked away and took a deep breath. "I need to talk to you."

"So talk."

"Not over the watch!" Alan pouted. "Come on, Gordo, beg out of it."

Gordon looked up and eyed his brothers then looked back down at Alan. "Why? You going somewhere?"

Alan's face softened. "Yeah, Gordo. Yeah, I am."

The sinking feeling turned into an all-out lead ball. "Okay."

"That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

"Well, what'd you want me to say?"

Alan opened his mouth, then clamped it shut. "Nothing. Nothing at all. See you at the debrief."

The line was severed. Gordon sagged back against the dull, unpainted hull of Thunderbird Four. Alan was going to Malaysia with Tin-Tin. He was leaving. Close in age and closer as friends. Somehow he just couldn't imagine life on Tracy Island without Alan. As much as he'd missed Tin-Tin and Kyrano, they weren't one of his brothers. They weren't Al. Gordon just shook his head and walked across the hangar toward the cavernous opening where Scott was unloading some boxes from the jet. Virgil frowned as he stepped out from behind Four. He'd heard. Virgil knew Alan was leaving. His heart sank.

* * *

><p>"Thanks, Gordon, if you could just stack these in the Maint Bay, I'd appreciate it."<p>

"Got it," Gordon said, walking away with the long dolly full of boxes.

Scott frowned as he watched his brother go. Something didn't seem quite right. He didn't have much of a chance to contemplate Gordon's demeanor, for Virgil approached him, and the look on his face made the knot that had taken up permanent residence in Scott's stomach tighten. "What is it?"

"Al's leaving," Virgil replied matter-of-factly.

Scott's face showed nothing of what he might have been feeling. "How do you know?"

"Al just told Gordo over his comm."

"Shit," he said. "I knew it would happen one day, but not now. Not in the middle of all this. What the hell can Alan be thinking?"

"He's thinking about Tin-Tin," Virgil replied. "She was almost killed over there."

"And so what, he wants him_self_ to almost get killed over there?"

Virgil looked his older brother in the eye. "No, he wants to protect her. If you loved someone that much, wouldn't you?"

"I already do, Virg," Scott said quietly as he turned away. "God knows I already do."

* * *

><p>Jeff entered the lounge. The feel of the air, the faces of his sons. Only Brains seemed to be oblivious to what was going on outside his own sphere, which was normal enough. Tin-Tin and Kyrano were not present. The group looked up at him as he crossed the room and seated himself behind his desk. When he glanced up after adjusting his chair, all eyes had turned away.<p>

_They already know._

"Okay, boys, let's get this debriefing underway so we can get back to work. Scott, report on the new Thunderbirds."

Scott nodded, his face expressionless as he spoke. "Thunderbird One estimated 75 percent complete. Only final circuitry and onboard computer programming are required once tail assembly has been completed. Thunderbird Two at approximately 40 percent completion. Right now she's little more than a hull and a few brain cells."

Virgil had the good grace to wrinkle his nose at the comment.

"Status Thunderbird Four is approximately 85 percent. She'll be sea-worthy within four days at most, Father."

"Thank you, Scott," Jeff acknowledged. "How about the pod we lost?"

"Haven't started on it, Dad. Pod's the least of our worries, we need to get Two up first."

"Agreed. Virgil, how is Manhattan proceeding?"

"Fine, Father. Workmen have completed the first six stories of the monument and I've lined up a landscaper who will do the job as requested. He's asking for pro bono."

"Really?" Jeff raised his eyebrows. "See if you can't negotiate him to at least take money for materials."

"Will do, Father."

"John, I'd like you to update everyone on what we talked about earlier today." He shot his father a look. Jeff stiffened slightly and turned to the rest of his sons. "John and I were discussing a new voice interaction device he's been working on."

John looked carefully away from his father, forcing his eyes to rest on Scott's. "Brains and I think we've figured out the difficulties using a voice interaction device to interface with Thunderbird Five. Since Scott and Father decided it was best to try and automate her as part of our current refit, we've come up with what we believe to be a viable solution. I'm putting the finishing touches on the VI box as we speak. Expect to be able to install it in Launch Control in a couple of days, Father."

"Thank you, John," Jeff replied evenly, his gaze resting a few seconds longer on the fair-haired man than perhaps it needed to. At the last moment before Jeff's eyes moved away, John looked up at him and whispered reminders of their conversation seemed to blare in Jeff's head. With determined effort, he turned to face Gordon.

"I've heard about Thunderbird Four, Gordon. I need an update on Kansas."

"Sure thing, Dad," Gordon nodded, with barely a trace of the earlier sadness that had snuggled around him like a warm, but far too heavy, wool blanket. "The office building skeleton is complete. Plumbing and electrical are working side-by-side, both should be done within a week. After that we're getting infrastructure and security squared away, I'm going over the final contract with the security providers and will hand their designs over to Brains by end-of-day tomorrow."

"Thank you, Gordon." Jeff looked at Alan, who was looking at the floor. He looked at Brains, who still seemed lost inside his own head, but this time on purpose. Then at the rest of his sons, whose eyes danced like cats on a hot tin roof. Anything to keep from looking at Alan, he noted, or at him.

"Well, as you may or may not know, we're going to be down a member for an indeterminate amount of time." As if on cue, Tin-Tin entered the lounge and walked to stand by Jeff's side as so often she had. After acknowledging her with a smile, he continued to speak. "Alan will be accompanying Tin-Tin back to Malaysia to overthrow Badan's hold on the palace and ensure her safety. He has my blessing to do this and I'm sure he has your support as well."

There were no comments forthcoming. Jeff cleared his throat and continued.

"Alan and Tin-Tin will be leaving day after tomorrow. I'll be flying them to Sibu myself, and joining them at the palace long enough to ensure Badan and his cronies are out on their asses but good. In my absence, Scott will be in charge of International Rescue and the island, while John will be in charge of Tracy Corporation."

John's head snapped up, a pained look of disbelief passing fleetingly across his face. It was gone as quickly as it had come, causing Jeff to wonder if he'd seen it at all.

"Gordon, you're still in charge of Kansas, and keep under Scott's guidance for the rebuilding of the Thunderbirds. Virgil, you're still in charge of the monument, and I want you to keep regular contact with Lady Penelope. She's working on some information for me that has to do with possible agent recruitment and also new member recruitment."

"New member recruitment?" Virgil repeated, looking askance at Scott. "What do you mean by that, Dad?"

"Just what it sounds like. We're working up security scenarios against which to run potential candidates." _Oh, to hell with businesslike. These are my __**sons**__._ "Look, boys, we all know we can't keep doing this forever, and I don't know how many of you really _want_ to do it forever. It's hitting us right smack in the head now with Alan leaving. We'll be able to handle it because Five is no longer going to be manned, leaving us the same compliment as when one of you was always up there. But if we drop another, we're going to start having a hard time. I'm not saying we're going to recruit any time soon. Only that we need to start thinking about the future, and I think this is the best way to do that."

The boys actually looked up at one another now, eyes locking for brief moments before moving on.

"Anyone have anything else to say?"

"About what? Alan leaving or the new members?" John asked, his voice tinged with an edge of something Jeff wasn't quite sure he recognized.

"Either."

Gordon glanced at Alan. "Who becomes Three's primary pilot?"

"John does, of course," Jeff responded. He knew Gordon had only said it to break the tension left by John's awkward question. "Well, if none of you have anything else to add, I say we get back to work. I want fully updated status reports on my desk by 8pm."

There was a chorus of "Yes, sir." as Jeff rose to his feet.

"I do wish you'd let me speak with them, Mr. Tracy," Tin-Tin said softly as the boys all stood and went off in pairs or alone. "I feel responsible for their unhappiness."

"You're responsible for half of an entire country, Tin-Tin," he said, smiling softly. "The boys are responsible for how they deal with things."

"But I'm taking their brother away," she insisted. "And your son."

"He's a grown man," Jeff replied, sitting on the edge of his desk and looking across the room at Alan's portrait hanging on the wall. "And he loves you."

Tin-Tin sighed. "I guess I just worry about splitting up those five brothers," she said, wistfully gazing at the portrait wall. "They're all so close."

Jeff turned as something caught his eye. John had come back and was standing in the doorway listening. Jeff saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard, his face unreadable. Jeff looked down at Tin-Tin, then back up at his son. John squared his jaw, turned on heel and stalked away.

"What was that about, Mr. Tracy?" Tin-Tin asked, genuinely concerned.

_I guess I just worry about splitting up those five brothers._

_Five brothers..._

No. He wouldn't. Jeff had all but forbid it. "Nothing, Tin-Tin," he said absently, patting her hand and staring at John's portrait on the wall. "Nothing."

* * *

><p>"I hope he knows what he's doing."<p>

"I think he does, Scott. And even if he doesn't, it's his mistake to make. You can't protect all of us from everything forever."

Scott looked sharply across the boat, wondering when it was Virgil had become so damn wise. It was maddening always having to listen to reason. "Nothing's to say I can't try. And Father, how could he just up and let him go without even _discussing_ it with me?"

Virgil looked at him pointedly. "Do I need to answer that?"

"No," Scott ground out as he steered the small speedboat closer to Mateo.

"He'll be fine. We'll catch him tomorrow, spend some time with him before he goes."

"Damn this whole situation," Scott said, more to himself than to Virgil. "Damn it all to hell."

* * *

><p>"What, are you following me today?"<p>

Jeff frowned. "Not exactly."

"I'm busy, Dad." Jeff folded his arms across his chest. Concern was overshadowed by fear. He'd just come from Kyrano's side and the more they had talked of the IDTs, the more he believed the Malay man's predictions of doom. For Kyrano had spoken of timelines and dimensions crossing in ways they never should. He himself had nearly died...or rather, _had_ died, in a way...because of the sultan being where he shouldn't.

"It's not safe, John. I just want to make sure you understand that."

"Not safe? For who? You?"

"For any of us."

"You said we'd see him again," John said matter-of-factly, turning and standing to face his father. "You told him that before he took the sultan back."

"Yes. Yes, I did."

"So what, you lied to him?"

"This is getting us nowhere. No good can come of you trying it, John."

"What do you mean, no good? How can good _not_ come of it? He's my _brother_, Dad, the brother I never had!" John looked away, his face showing disgust, but only to hide the aching emptiness from his childhood as he'd had to forego the usual pleasantries of play and rough-housing for the sake of his heart, of his health. The hours spent with his nose in books, or buried in his computer screen. "You don't understand," he finally said. "You can't possibly understand."

"You don't think I want to get to know the son I lost, John? Is that what you think? That this is having no effect on anyone but you?"

"You didn't have to grow up knowing you'd lost something you could never get back. Now I have the chance to _get_ it back, Father!"

"You think I didn't wish growing up that I had someone? Out on that farm in the middle of nowhere, twenty miles to the nearest damn town? You think it was fun to be lonely like that?"

"What do you know of loneliness, Dad?"

A look flashed across Jeff's face. "I've lost more than Benjamin in my time, son."

For a moment, John felt guilty as he thought of his mother. His dad had a point. He looked up suddenly as that thought took root in his mind. "So I guess if the shoe was on the other foot, if it wasn't Ben Tracy, but _Lucille_ Tracy over there, you wouldn't go."

Jeff's eyes widened, the word _NO_ screaming over and over in his mind. But he found he couldn't say it, no matter how hard he tried.

"That's what I thought," John said. And with that, he walked out of Launch Control.

"Damn you, Hood," Jeff whispered into the still air, wishing for the hundredth time the bastard had never invented the IDTs. "Damn you."

* * *

><p>"Hey."<p>

Gordon looked up from the water's edge, where he'd plopped down and was currently studying the sand filtering between his toes. "Hey."

"I thought I might find you here."

He grunted in response.

"Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"I don't know," Alan replied, tossing his sandals to the side and sitting down next to his brother. "You seemed sore."

Gordon looked at Alan out the corner of his eye, then squinted into the sun which hung midway up from the horizon. "I'm glad you're going with her."

"You are?"

"Sure, she needs all the help she can get."

"Yeah."

Gordon rose to his feet after a few more minutes and brushed the sand from his shorts and legs. "It'll be boring around here without you."

Alan grinned and stood as well. Before Gordon could move away, he enveloped him in a hug. "I'll miss you too, pain in the ass."

Gordon allowed the moment, squeezing his arms tight around Alan. "Shit," he breathed into his brother's shirt.

"I'll keep in touch. You know that," Alan said, backing away. "Come on, let's do something together. For old times' sake."

"Like?"

"How about skinny-dipping?"

Gordon's look of disbelief morphed into the 'what will Dad think?' look before he all-out grinned. "You're on!"

The men ran down the beach together, tee shirts and shorts discarded along the way. For the moment, they could forget. For the moment, they could go back to being mischievous kids. For the moment, still, they were together in Paradise and had no cares in the world.

Their whooping cries rose into the air as they took running leaps off the end of the tarmac. Two mighty splashes told of their landings. And their laughter and shouts told of the brotherly bond that would never be broken, no matter how far the distance between them.

* * *

><p>On the balcony of Launch Control, John sank back into the shadows. Watching Gordon and Alan together only reaffirmed his chosen path. With purpose to his step, he headed for the laboratory.<p>

He made it there in double-time and quickly keyed in the pass code. The cabinet door slid open. The two IDTs lay on the top shelf. He picked one up and looked over the keyboard and screen, remembering what Brains had taught them all in his short and informal class on its use. A couple of buttons pressed. Pull in the pattern...yes! Ben's pattern was there, from when Kyrano and Alan had gone to get him!

A smile crept across John's face as he raised his arm into the air. A portal opened, blinding him. Its liquid blue waves undulated in time with his heartbeat, it seemed. One step would take him into another world where he would find at last the one thing he'd never had that his brothers _always_ had. His father's nagging voice cascaded away as the portal's whine filled his head.

It wasn't his father's right to stop him, nor Kyrano's. It was_ his_ choice to make. It was _his_ brother. No harm would be done. Only good could come of it. Father was wrong. If it was Mom, he would go. His father's silence had told him that much.

John closed his eyes, took a step and vanished.


	6. Tension

_John finds disappointment and a surprising correlation. Alan's leaving with Tin-Tin...quite possibly for good. And Penny returns, only to find Jeff cold as ever. But is he really as indifferent as he seems?_

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>TENSION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>John stood in the doorway to Launch Control. So far he had not been seen, and though his mind felt sharp, he'd noticed that after only four minutes in Ben's dimension, his body had started feeling strange - wavering, almost, as though each molecule were vibrating so violently it was making his entire <em>body<em> vibrate.

But he pushed the strange sensation aside as he stared at the man with his back to him. Ben. His brother. John cleared his throat and Ben turned. "Oh, hey, John, what is it? Is the sultan okay?"

"The sultan?" John looked at him quizzically before he realized what he was talking about. "Oh, he's fine, I guess. I..."

Ben's eyes widened. "You're not my John."

"How'd you know?" John smiled.

Crossing the floor until he was standing in front of him, Ben replied, "I can just tell, I guess. I know you're not the same man. What are you doing here? Is everything all right on your side?"

John snorted his response. "Launch Control looks a little different," he said, moving around the room and noting each detail.

"Why are you here, John?"

John didn't turn around. "Why do you think?"

"Me."

He turned and nodded. "Yeah, you. I guess I just...I wanted to...find out who you are."

Ben frowned. "Does Dad...does _your_ dad know you're here?"

"What the hell difference does _that_ make?"

"How long can you be here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you can't stay here indefinitely. Look what happened when my sultan and your Kyrano were in the same dimension." Ben's face grew concerned. "Your Kyrano...is he dead?"

"No. As soon as you disappeared he came back...why are we talking about _him_?"

"Well, what do you _want_ to talk about?"

"You! _Us_!"

"Us? You mean the John over here?"

"The John..." John looked toward the open door exiting Launch Control. "I guess I'd forgotten there's another me."

"Look," Ben said softly, approaching him and laying a hand on his forearm, "I know this can't be easy for you. Any easier than it was for me to see the brother _I_ lost for the first time over there. Or to see Scott alive and well. Or Father, living and breathing."

"No," John admitted, "it's _not_ easy." He turned and put his hands on Ben's shoulders. "But I have an opportunity here to get to know the brother I never _had_. I can't just let this drop, Benjamin."

"Ben," he corrected him. "I have an IDT, too. The sultan's force found a third one when they went searching through Gaat's home and he gave it to me for safekeeping." He looked pointedly at John. "But I haven't used it to visit Virgil."

"Why not? You can go whatever you want."

"No. I have to do what's right."

"What's right by whose standards?" John shot back. This wasn't going at all the way he'd envisioned. What _had_ he envisioned? Being welcomed with open arms? Ben didn't need him, he already had his own John. His brow creased. "I just want to hang with you for a while, get to know you. That's all."

"_John to Ben. Come in, Ben."_

John's eyes widened as Ben answered his wrist comm. "Go ahead, John."

"_Hey, I'm picking up a damn strange reading from LC. What's going on over there?"_

"Nothing that I know of, Johnny," Ben replied, looking up over the side of his wrist at the other John. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure it's nothing. How's the sultan?"

"_A-OK, as far as Brains can tell."_ Ben's John sighed. _"I went into Scott's room today."_

"Why?" Ben asked, face falling.

"_I just...I don't know. I wanted to feel closer to him."_

The John-without-his-twin backed away, feeling very much like a third wheel, and very uncomfortable at listening to himself talk that way. He'd never open up like that, especially not on a comm line. What the hell?

"Johnny, you shouldn't have gone without me. I told you we'd go in together."

"_I know. I found something. On his nightstand. That picture of him and Cammie."_

"Oh, yeah." Ben smiled a tiny smile as John frowned across the room at him. "I guess it's a good thing she left before he died. I don't know how she would have handled her husband - you know."

"_How are you handling it?"_

"Husband?" John squeaked. " Scott was _married_?"

Ben looked up at him sharply. "I'm not handling it well at all, John," he replied into the watch. "In fact, I was just going to call us all together. I think it's time I fully divulge what happened."

"_You mean where the hell the sultan came from?"_

"That and a lot more," Ben said, giving the other John a meaningful look. "Get the others and meet me in the lounge in five."

"_F.A.B., Ben."_

Ben lowered his wrist. "I'm sorry, John. I _do_ understand your desire to get to know me, but I have a family to rebuild, too. I'm the head of it now, and I've only got Alan, Gordon and _my_ John left, plus Brains. I need to get _our_ shit together as much as you need to get _your_ shit together."

"As much as I...hey, wait just one minute! I don't have any problem with _my_ shit!" John retorted, sagging back against the wall as his legs turned to Jell-O.

Ben moved forward and grabbed his arms to keep him from falling. Their faces were so close their noses almost touched. "John, you need to go back."

"I don't want to."

"You can't survive over here, and I won't have you killing _my_ John!"

"But I _am_ your John!"

"No!" Ben yelled, shaking him slightly. "You're _not_! Now go back, John! Go back to those who need you! Go back to _your_ family!"

"You _are_ my family," John said quietly as a dizzying sensation overtook him. "You _should_ have been."

"Oh, John," Ben said, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing him tightly, "I understand. God help me, I do. But you and I are from different places and we can't upset things more than they've already been upset. Can't you see what's happening to you? You'll kill both yourself _and_ my John. Is that what you want?"

John's hands balled into fists, grasping Ben's shirt so hard his knuckles turned white. "I want my brother," John whispered as his head fell forward. "I just want my _brother_!"

"I know," Ben said softly, pushing John back so he could see his face. "But I'm not _him_."

John's wide eyes looked up into Ben's and filled with tears. "I guess...I thought if..." John tried to push himself up to a standing position, but found himself growing weaker by the second. "I don't know what I thought."

Ben was almost entirely supporting his weight now. "I know what you wanted, John. I'm sorry I can't give it to you, but I have my own twin brother. We're closer than any two men ever could be, and I can't imagine not having that. So I can't fathom what you're feeling. All I know is I can't split myself between the one I know and the one I just found out exists somewhere else."

"No," John rasped, clinging to Ben's arms. "Just let me go."

"John, please, I...I wouldn't mind you getting to know me, it's just...not now. Not when I have to devote every minute of my time to my brothers. To figuring out what to do, what our future is. You understand, don't you?"

John said nothing. He raised his arm and keyed in a sequence on the IDT. A portal appeared seconds later. Mustering his last ounce of strength, John pushed himself unsteadily to his feet and walked toward the opening. He stopped, wavering, and looked back at Ben.

"Good-bye," John said, voice trembling. Then he turned into the portal and disappeared.

"Good-bye, John," Ben whispered as the portal winked out of existence. "And God help you." He shook his head, wiping his arm over his face to dry the tears in his eyes. "God help us all."

* * *

><p>"Have you seen John? I need to get with him some time tonight to go over Corp business before we leave tomorrow."<p>

Scott looked up from the box of parts he'd just opened. "No, Father, haven't seen him. Listen, I'm just getting ready to head back over to Mateo. You want to come see how Four's looking?"

"I'll get over there before we go," Jeff said. "But right now I need to find John."

Scott frowned. "Why didn't you just look for his GPS?" Jeff looked like he was about to say something, but didn't. "Father? What is it?"

Jeff frowned. "I don't know, probably nothing. I'll check in with you later."

He walked away without another word. Scott frowned as he looked after him. What was _that_ all about?

Jeff bolted out of the elevator and ran down the long, curved metal corridor. He raced into the lab and his heart leapt into his throat. The IDT cabinet was open. And one of the devices was missing.

"Oh, John, no. You didn't," he whispered, moving across the room and placing his hand in the once-occupied space. "Damn you, John."

But before he could continue that line of thought, a high-pitched whine reached his ears. He turned as the portal appeared, blinding him. Seconds later it disappeared. He blinked a few times and managed to focus on John just as he fell to the floor in a heap.

"John!" Jeff cried out, dropping to his knees beside him. "My God!"

John's eyes blinked open as he grasped Jeff's hand. "I'm sorry, Father," he whispered weakly as Jeff held his hand in return. "You were right." A tear escaped John's eye. "You were right." He lost consciousness as Jeff shook his head sadly.

"Brains," Jeff said into his watch. "Get to the lab with a stretcher on the double!"

"_F.A.B."_

Jeff pulled John into his arms, cradling him as he stroked his hair. There were times when he wished he wasn't right so much. "I'm sorry, John," he whispered, lips against his son's forehead. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

><p>"Are you certain this is what you wish, Alan?" Tin-Tin asked as he entered from his sitting room. She turned to face him, bathed from behind in the light of a full moon. He gasped softly and she smiled, looking demurely away.<p>

He walked up and put his arms around her, nuzzling her neck. "You have to ask me if you're what I want? Now? After everything that's happened?"

She moaned as his lips kissed along her elegant neck to her ear. "I don't want you to be unhappy."

He pulled away and looked into her sparkling green eyes. "As long as we're together, as long as you're healthy, then I'm happy."

"Alan, I...I don't know what to say."

His lips moved against hers, his tongue pushing into her mouth. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into himself as though he could somehow meld their bodies into one. At last he pulled away. "Say you love me," he smiled.

"I love you," she replied quickly, a large grin on her face. "You've changed so, Alan. _How_ you've changed." Her hand caressed his cheek.

"So have you," Alan said, mirroring her gesture. "I want to marry you. I want to have children with you. I want everything, Tin-Tin, and I don't care what part of the world I have to live in to have it."

"Children?" She looked astonished at first, then laughed out loud. "Honestly, Alan, we're barely back together now!"

He cupped her face in his hands, baby blue eyes hiding nothing. "Dad was right," he whispered, voice breaking. "Once you find what you've been looking for, never let go no matter how hard it is to hold on."

"Your father said that?"

"Mine...yours...what does it matter?" he asked, a twinkle in his eyes. He dropped down to one knee, hands moving to grasp hers. "Marry me, Tin-Tin."

She smiled and nodded. "Of course, Alan." She took a deep breath and pulled her hand from his, laying it atop his head. "Even if I have to give up everything to do it."

He rose to his feet and swept her into his arms, kissing her as he carried her to his bed. Laying her gently upon it, he moved on top of her, then pulled out of the kiss, frowning.

"Alan? What is it?"

"Are you sure you're okay? I mean, it hasn't been that long since..." The stricken look on his face was more than she could bear.

"Make love to me." He kissed her again and all thoughts of Malaysia fled Tin-Tin's mind as Alan's mouth...and hands...and body...did wonderful things to her. How she could ever have left this man, she couldn't fathom as every nerve ending lit on fire. But she _did_ know as he removed her blouse that she would never leave him again.

* * *

><p>"Dad?"<p>

"Hi, Virgil," Jeff said, turning as his second eldest walked into the hospital ward.

"How's John?"

"Oh, he's going to be fine, Brains says," Jeff replied a little too lightly. "You back from Mateo already?"

"I haven't gone over yet. Gordon and I just finished loading the big aft cylinder onto the hovercraft. We'll be heading there in a few, he wanted to grab something to eat first."

A line rang down into the ward's medical office and Jeff frowned. "Now, who could that be?" he wondered as he moved toward it. "Maybe it's Mother." Virgil followed him, and when Jeff keyed open the vidphone line, both men were surprised. "Ned?" Jeff said. "Ned, where have you _been_?"

"God, Jeff," Ned said tiredly. "You have _no_ idea."

"Are you okay? Is Adi all right?"

"About as well as can be expected given her condition."

"That's right, she's..." Jeff's face blanched. He'd all but forgotten what had happened to Adi at the hands of the Hood. "She actually decided to have the baby."

"Yes. Her religious beliefs wouldn't allow her to abort, even though it's..." Ned's face twisted in anger, then he visibly struggled to put it as far away from his mind as he could. "I'm going to help her with him as much as I can."

"Him? It's a boy?"

"Yes. He's due in three months. She's going to name him Gabriel - but listen, that's not why I contacted you. I got your message a while back that you'd killed the Hood. Are you _sure_ he's dead?"

"Absolutely. It took us a month to clean up the bits and pieces."

"I've uncovered quite a bit about the bastard...about his true identity, about the connection to your friend Kyrano and his daughter...I have an awful lot of information. Is Tin-Tin going back to Sarawak?"

"She is, I'm taking her and Alan there myself tomorrow. Kyrano will be accompanying us. Why?"

"Things are bad over there, Jeff. Really bad. I'm not sure it's safe for them to go."

"I can't stop them," Jeff said, mouth tightening into a straight line. "Besides, we need to get rid of the traitorous bastard that almost killed Tin-Tin."

"Let me come," Ned said quickly. "I was going to head there to cover the crisis between the Asian Union and Western sympathizers. It would be the perfect place for an on-scene scoop."

"You never quit, do you?"

"Well, hell, you won't _let_ me tell the biggest story of my lifetime! A guy's got to have _some_thing to fall back on!"

Virgil and Jeff chuckled. "All right, Ned, all right. We're leaving at noon tomorrow."

"I can pick him up, Father."

"I'll leave you two to make arrangements. Ned? Are you sure it's a good time to leave Adi?"

"She'll be fine," Ned said. "She's in the best of care." He leaned closer to the vidphone. "Besides, you know how pregnant women are," he whispered conspiratorially and shuddered.

Jeff nodded and laughed as he turned away. Yes, he well remembered how even the most loving of women could turn banshee thanks to the hormonal imbalance of pregnancy. He could hear Virgil and Ned speaking as he made his way back to John's bedside. He looked at the life sign indicators above the bed and nodded in satisfaction. John would be fine. Good. Because when he woke up, Jeff was going to knock his block off for the stunt he'd pulled.

Right after he made sure John knew how goddamn _glad_ Jeff was that his son was okay.

* * *

><p>"Oh, good, I'm glad you guys are here. I was hoping to get the cylinder in tonight."<p>

"Yeah, baby," Gordon said as he moved to the back of the hovercraft to unchain the heavy cylinder. "You know," he called out, "I'm a little surprised we made it over here. A couple times I thought the air on the hover jets was going to give out!"

"Oh, great, and sink you like a stone!" Scott called back good-naturedly.

"Scott..."

"What, Virg?"

"Don't you think we maybe ought to let him head back to Tracy Island?"

Scott frowned. "What for?"

"Well, it _is_ Alan's last night home. In fact, we should _all_ be back there giving him and Tin-Tin a big send-off."

"If Gordon wants to be back there, he can speak up for himself, can't he?"

Virgil gave him a look. "Yeah, he's avoiding the whole thing as much as you are. The two of you are impossible."

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked as he unhooked the chains holding the front of the four-foot, two hundred pound cylinder. "You know we have work to do."

"And we can't take one night off for the sake of our little brother who's leaving." When Virgil received no response, he added, "Maybe for _good_."

Scott froze in mid-movement. A few seconds later he rose to his full height, looking back up at the dock where Virgil stood with his arms folded over his chest.

"Listen, Scott," Virgil said, then noticed Gordon coming around from the back of the hovercraft. "And you, too, Gordon. We can't just pretend Alan isn't leaving, and we owe it to him, _and_ to Tin-Tin, to send them away in style."

Gordon and Scott exchanged glances. "What did you have in mind, Virg?" Gordon asked.

"Whiskey, a pool...and _family_."

"You're right," Scott breathed in a resigned puff of air.

"I know I am. Now let's get this thing into the hangar and get our asses back home. This will wait until tomorrow afternoon."

"After_noon_?" Scott complained.

"After_noon_!" Virgil said firmly. "Once they've left-" He was cut off by the sound of all three of their watches beeping rapidly. "The alert signal." They hadn't heard that sound since International Rescue had stopped operating.

Scott raised his watch to his face. "One, Two and Four reporting in. Go ahead, Base."

"Where are you?"

"We're on Mateo, Father. What is it?"

"I need one of you to go pick Penelope up in Sydney," Jeff replied. "Parker's with her."

"Why is Penny coming to the island?" Scott asked.

"I'm not sure," Jeff replied. "She just called and said she was there."

"I'll go get her," Scott said. "We'll be back as soon as this cylinder's stowed."

"F.A.B., Scott."

"We haven't seen Penny in _months_," Gordon commented.

"Maybe she wants to see Alan and Tin-Tin off, too," said Virgil.

"Or maybe she wants to see _Dad_."

"You still on that?" Virgil asked as he stepped up into the cab of the crane situated at the side of the dock.

"Well, shit, if Alan's allowed to be in love, then so is Dad, wouldn't you say?"

"So are we all," Gordon said. "Fat chance of that, we never have a second to spare around here."

"Well, that will change," Scott replied. "Remember Father said when he returned with Kyrano things would be different around here."

"They aren't," Gordon replied. "You know it as well as I do. He hasn't even found out what it is I want to do. He said he wanted to know before he left."

"Well, a lot's happened," Virgil called down from above as Scott and Gordon moved to hook the crane to the chains surrounding the cylinder.

"That's no excuse," Scott replied. "Once Dad leaves for Malaysia tomorrow, I will personally make sure things start to change." He looked across at Gordon as Gordon clipped the last hook in place. "And for starters, we're going to the mainland."

"Woot," Gordon said in mock joviality. "Women."

"Would you rather have men?" Scott asked. "They have those, too, you know."

Gordon tackled Scott and the two landed on the dock laughing uproariously. Virgil just shook his head and fired the crane up, drowning out all sounds of his brothers' tussle. "Kids," he groaned self-righteously.

* * *

><p>John blinked his eyes open. When he saw his father's face above him, he groaned.<p>

"Glad to see you too, son."

"Dad..."

Brains made a beeline to John's bedside and began checking his vitals.

"John, don't try to say much. Other-dimensional sickness knocks you on your ass, Alan said."

"You want me...to get better...so you can deck me."

Jeff chuckled. "It had crossed my mind."

"I'm sorry. You were right."

"So...you saw Ben?"

John nodded and closed his eyes as Brains poked and prodded.

"What happened?"

"I'd rather not, Dad."

Jeff nodded and placed his hand over John's. "Well, get back on your feet and fast. I need to go over some Corp business with you before we leave tomorrow."

John nodded again, a faint smile gracing his features before he succumbed to the relaxant Brains had just fed into his IV line. "I-I'll have him up before you know it, ah, Jeff."

"Thanks, Brains. Why don't you get some rest, too? I daresay you've been as harangued as the rest of us."

"A-And miss Lady Penelope's visit?" Brains replied. "Y-You have to be, ah, kidding."

Jeff didn't smile. "Yes. Of course," was all he said.

Brains frowned as he watched him go. "What the hell's wrong with him?"

"If I were to hazard a guess," came John's voice, "I'd say he's in love."

"You're supposed to be out like a-a light!" Brains said in surprise.

John chuckled. "Us Tracys have an iron constitution, Brains. Besides, you look a little forlorn."

"I-I'm just tired o-of you all getting injured. I-It's a lot of work keeping you healthy."

"Sorry."

Brains smiled as he placed a hand on John's shoulder. "Don't a-apologize. I-I'm just glad you're o-okay. Get some sleep."

"Wake me in a few?" John yawned.

"I-I will." Brains sat down in a nearby chair jotting down that hour's life sign readings. His eyes strayed from the indicator above the bed down to John's sleeping face. "Y-You don't have to go looking for a sibling o-over there," he whispered. "Not when you've, ah, got one here, John."

John very nearly gasped out loud, but managed to hold it in. What had Brains meant by that? He struggled to hold on to the thought, but couldn't keep it together in the face of Brains' medicines. The last thing he saw in his thoughts was Brains' face next to Ben's...and then they merged.

_My God! Oh, my God!_

* * *

><p>An hour later, Jeff stood out on his balcony watching as Scott came in for a landing with Tracy One. He knew Penelope was on board that jet along with Parker. He also knew he didn't want to see her. He couldn't. Not now. Not when he was about to leave with Kyrano, Tin-Tin and Alan. And who knew how long he'd be gone? He was afraid of what Penny wanted. Afraid.<p>

"Imagine that," he said to himself. "Jeff Tracy afraid." He sighed. "Again."

He hadn't felt this unsure since coming back to himself after his nervous breakdown. She'd been there. She'd seen him through the worst. Seen him _at_ his worst. And maybe that was part of the problem. Or...the _whole_ problem.

Jeff had never let anyone see his worst. Not after Lucille had died...no, he'd gone away, squirreled himself in an office, far away from his sons, hiding from the world and burying himself in work. Then with the tower's destruction he'd tried to keep it to himself but ultimately couldn't. And she'd been there.

She loved him. He wasn't a stupid man. He knew it.

But when all was said and done, she'd seen a side of him he never let anyone see. She was already family. He'd always half-hoped she'd marry one of his sons. But her preference for the patriarch vs. the heirs had been pretty obvious from the beginning, and while for a long time Jeff had found it flattering and had indeed returned the interest, he now found it more than just a little unnerving to imagine really letting her all the way in. _Willingly_ letting her all the way in.

God knew she was an unparalleled beauty. And a lady in every way. She was also fiery, strong and independent - more than once Jeff had secretly been glad she was on _their_ side rather than working against them, for Lady Creighton-Ward was a force to be reckoned with. He'd always admired her, liked her, looked forward to her visits...and respected her.

But she'd gotten too close. And like any good Midwestern born-and-bred Tracy, that was simply not acceptable. Well, Alan didn't really count because he was the youngest and had always worn his heart on his sleeve. Besides, when you almost lose the woman you love, you forget to care how others see you act so foolishly around her.

If Lucy had lived, they'd all have seen _him_ act that way, never letting her out of his sight and _never_ taking her for granted again.

Yet she hadn't, and Jeff had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he would forever remain a widower. No one could touch his heart. No one could penetrate the fortress that was the soul of Jeff Tracy.

_Who is it you're trying so hard to convince?_

He looked up and realized he didn't hear the jet anymore. A glance at his chronometer showed he'd been lost in his thoughts for nearly 20 minutes. Oh, boy, Penny was going to be some pissed Jeff hadn't greeted her coming off the plane.

Best to face her now and get it over with.

* * *

><p>"Ho, boy, is she in a state," Virgil commented as he and Scott headed for Alan's room.<p>

"Tell me about it. I don't think she said five words to me the entire flight home."

"Better you that picked her up than me."

"Hey, you're the one who has to fly Ned Cook out here tomorrow morning."

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me," he said as he rang the entry signal on the keypad outside Alan's suite door.

A few moments later the door swished open. Alan stood there glistening with a towel wrapped around his waist. Scott punched him on the arm. "Alan, you _dog_."

"What do you guys want?" Alan scowled, trying...and failing...to look nonchalant.

"Party time," Virgil said, holding out a bottle of scotch. "Meet us down by the pool in ten minutes."

"That is, if you think Tin-Tin will let you out to play."

Alan mock-boxed at Scott but couldn't keep from turning scarlet. "Get out of here," he groused as the door swished closed.

Scott and Virgil burst out laughing as they made their way back down the stairs and toward the lounge.

"He got laid!" Virgil laughed. "Lucky bastard."

"God, I did not need to be privy to that," Scott commented as he tried to stop chuckling.

"If they keep this up, they'll make us uncles inside a year."

"Uncles?" Scott repeated, turning white. "Jesus, Virg."

"What? You forget how babies get made or something?"

Scott's face turned serious. "I seem to recall something about inserting Tab A into Slot B..."

Virgil started laughing even harder and Scott joined him, but both stopped dead in their tracks as their father entered the lounge ahead of them. "Penny," they heard him say.

"I say we take another route to the pool," Virgil said.

"And miss a fireworks display?" Gordon asked cheekily from behind them.

"Where'd you come from?" Virgil asked.

"Secret panel. How else do you think I can sneak around and eavesdrop?"

"We can't eavesdrop, Dad would kill us."

"Not to mention Penelope," Virgil added.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Gordon asked petulantly. "Big brothers can be such a drag."

"Jeff," came Lady Penelope's rather cool voice.

Scott looked through the doorway to where Penny sat on the piano bench. "Is the Grand insured, Virg?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think it might be about to get in the middle of Dad and Penny."

"Ouch," Gordon said. "Hope you weren't too fond of her, Virg."

"Who, Penny?"

"No," Gordon shook his head. "Your piano."

"Ha ha," Virgil replied, but looked with concern at his shiny black baby anyway. "You don't think she'd bash him over the head with it, do you?"

Gordon stifled a laugh. "Not unless she's the Bionic Woman."

"You know, that would explain a lot," Scott said thoughtfully. "Know what I mean?"

"What's going on?"

They all turned to find Alan and Tin-Tin behind them at the base of the stairs.

"Just watching the show," Gordon replied. "Anyone bring popcorn?"

Tin-Tin frowned as she squeezed through them. Once she saw the two people in the lounge, she elbowed Gordon. "You are incorrigible!" she whispered fiercely. "Now get out of here this instant!"

The men groaned and grumbled as Tin-Tin herded them toward the elevator. "Looks like we're taking the long way to the pool," Alan said with a grin.

"Hey, where's John?" Gordon asked.

"Brains is going to bring him out later when he wakes up."

"When Brains wakes up?" Alan asked.

Gordon laughed and shoved him as they squeezed into the elevator. "No, dummy, when _John_ wakes up."

"Anybody else notice Brains hasn't left the sick ward since John landed in there?" Alan asked.

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?" Tin-Tin asked. "You know how concerned Brains becomes when one of us takes ill."

"Yeah, but this is different," Gordon said. "When I peeked in on them earlier, Brains was sitting at his bedside with his head on his stomach. Looked like he'd fallen asleep on him."

"He's tired too, you know," Scott said as the elevator opened onto the tarmac. "Maybe he finally passed out."

"Or maybe it's more," Virgil said thoughtfully. All eyes turned to him. "What?"

"What are you getting at, Virg?" Scott asked, his face quirked into confused look.

"Nothing," Virgil replied. "Just thinking out loud."

"So _that's_ what I smelled," Alan quipped.

"You know something? I am _not_ going to miss you one _bit_!" Virgil roared, taking off and chasing him along the beach.

Tin-Tin laughed. "He's lying through his teeth. He's going to miss Alan terribly." She looked at the others. "You all will, and I know that. I truly am sorry for taking him from you this way."

"It's his choice to make, Tin-Tin, not ours," Scott said as he put an arm around her shoulder. "Besides, I'm looking forward to being an uncle."

Gordon burst out laughing as Tin-Tin took off chasing Scott down the beach, swearing at him in at least five different languages. "Things are almost normal," he said to the ocean's waves as he ambled along. "Maybe for the last time." His own somber words caused him to stop and look out over the moonlit ocean. "Maybe for the last time."

* * *

><p>"I understand you're to leave tomorrow with Tin-Tin, Kyrano and Alan."<p>

"That's true," Jeff replied. "I have to help them get rid of Badan and any of his co-conspirators. With Gaat dead and gone now, it shouldn't be too difficult."

"So you've no idea when you'll be returning home?"

"No definite idea, no, though I'd like to get back as quickly as I can." Jeff eyed her. "I have to make sure my son and future daughter-in-law are safe before I just leave them there."

"No need to be defensive, Jeff, I was simply asking. What of Kyrano?"

"He'll come back with me," Jeff replied. "I swore I wouldn't let him out of my sight again."

"He is a good friend," she said softly. "A very good friend."

"Yes. That he is."

An awkward silence hung between them. "Jeff, I wish to come along."

"What? Why?"

"Like you, I suppose, when I care very deeply for someone, I don't fancy letting them out of my sight for any length of time either."

Jeff frowned. "I haven't seen you in almost six months, Penelope. That hardly constitutes not letting me out of your sight."

"No thanks to you and your assignments that kept me away."

"That was business, Penny, and you know it."

"Yes, it was. But _this_ isn't!" With that, she walked up to him, put her arms around him and planted a firm kiss on his lips. She backed away, unable to keep from smiling at his deer in the headlights look. "You, Jefferson Tracy, are the most single-minded stubborn old fool I have ever met. And I will not let you push me away any longer."

"Maybe that's not your choice to make, Penny," he growled, turning away.

She walked quickly around him until she stood in front of him, effectively blocking his way. He came up short and stared directly into her eyes. "Get out of my way. I have things I have to do."

"The thing you have to do is join me and your sons down by the pool."

"What? What for?"

"Alan's and Tin-Tin's going away party. Unless you don't care to share one more night together as a family."

"Don't you dare-" He was stopped short by Penny planting another kiss on his lips. "Would you stop that?" he exclaimed, grabbing her biceps and pushing her away. Her eyes caught his and he stared into them. He felt his heart pick up pace, felt his chest tighten...and before he knew what he was doing, he had her crushed to his body, lips covering hers, tongue forcing its way into her mouth.

She moaned into him, arms wrapping around his neck as she deepened the kiss and rubbed her hips against him. Finally he broke the kiss and looked wildly into her eyes. "Fine," he said, voice rumbling from deep within, "you can come along. But don't ever do that again."

He turned and, with his back to her, adjusted the front of his shorts before continuing on out to the curved staircase. Penelope laughed lightly and followed in his wake. "Don't do that again, indeed," she said as she followed him down the stairs.

"Did you see _that_?" John asked, leaning against Brains for support.

"I-I sure did. Wow," Brains replied. "A-Are you sure you're o-okay to go drinking with the rest of them?"

"Yeah," John replied. "Maybe I'll even get drunk enough to tell you about the dream I had."

"Ah, why would you tell me?"

John looked across at Brains' large blue eyes, his tousled brown hair. "You were in it," John replied. "Come on."

Brains looked bemused as he helped John across the lounge. "I-I don't think I'll ever figure you Tracys out," he commented as they started down the staircase.

"Bull," John replied. "I think you already have."

Brains looked sharply at him, but all was soon forgotten in light of the festivities taking place around the pool. Some voices were already loud and you could smell the finest scotch and vodka being passed around. Parker was already slurring his words and even Kyrano had a short glass of amber liquid in his hand. Brains helped John to a chaise lounge and brought him a drink, then sat back out of the way to observe.

They were all there. Six Tracy men. Two Kyranos. Two native Britains. And him.

He wished it could stay this way. But he knew it couldn't. Change was good, yes. But not _all_ change.

"Hey, you okay?"

Brains blinked twice at John before smiling. "I-I'm fine, John. Do you want me to help you o-over to where your brothers are?"

"No, I'm good here. I'm still not quite up to speed," John replied. "Thanks for sticking with me." Brains blushed as he ducked his head. "You know," John continued boldly, "You're almost like the brother I never had."

Brains' head whipped up, his face now crimson. "What?"

"You know, don't you?"

"Know what, John?"

"Who you are."

"Who...no, I don't. I never have."

"I don't mean who your _parents_ were. I mean who _you_ are." John leaned over and put a hand on Brains' leg. "Ben."

Brains' eyes grew round as saucers. "I...I've been thinking I...felt...I don't know," Brains replied, looking quickly away.

"It's okay, we don't have to talk about it now," John replied, squeezing his leg and then letting go. "But soon, Brains. Okay?"

Brains nodded and just watched as Gordon and Alan came over and helped John out of his chaise, pulling him down to the opposite end of the pool. And for the rest of the night, every time Brains looked up, John's eyes were on him.

Confused and unsure, Brains eventually left his untouched glass of vodka on a nearby table and headed back into the house. Back to his lab. Back to the safety of inanimate objects and science.

Away from his heart.


	7. Aversion

_Some come together even as others depart. __Gordon, Brains and John stay behind, and Scott and Virgil are off to take care of business while the rest are Malaysia-bound. But in two different places things suddenly go very wrong._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>AVERSION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>It was late. <em>Very<em> late. Or very early, depending on how you looked at it.

John stumbled up the steps, making it none-too-gracefully through the glass doors into the lounge. The sounds of drunken singing and laughter faded behind him as he stood in the middle of the lounge.

"Now, 'f I were Brainsssss, wherrrre would I be?" he slurred to the empty room. "A-_ha_!" he crowed, finger raised in the air triumphantly as though he'd just solved the secrets of the universe. "Lab!"

Weaving his way into the hall, John hit the call button and waited for the elevator to arrive, using its door to hold himself up. When it opened he fell inside, the back wall catching him. "Oops," he mumbled as he tried to punch the button that would take him to the laboratory level. He kept trying and missing. "Oh, fuggit," he complained, but finally his thumb caught the right spot on the keypad and the doors closed.

"God_damn_, I'm drunk."

* * *

><p>Brains sighed and leaned back in his stool. In his mind he was working on two separate equations, plus calculating the amount of fuel they would need for the upcoming test of Four and several other things. But what occupied most of his consciousness were John's earlier comments about Ben.<p>

Yes, Brains had thought of it himself. But he'd simultaneously thought he was just nuts. That it was nothing more than the desperation he'd always felt over not knowing his lineage. That he'd been with the Tracys for so long, had become such a part of their family, that recent events had forced him to finally go insane thinking he had any sort of cosmic connection to this family other than the obvious current one.

It was wishful thinking. That was all it was.

But then why...and more importantly, _how_...had John come up with it? He'd never said anything before. Indeed, it seemed to have come after his unauthorized trip to visit Ben in the other dimension. Had Ben revealed something to him? Had he seen something that had put the idea in his head?

Or...maybe he'd overheard what Brains had said and in his moment of not having gotten what he'd wanted from Ben...perhaps it was _John_ who was going insane.

Brains bounced to his feet at the sudden clattering and general sounds of mayhem that came from the front room of the gigantic lab. "What the-?" He raced out there only to discover John leaning against the front metal table looking sheepishly at a large pile of pans, broken glass and various and sundry other lab instruments on the concrete floor. "What happened? Are you okay?" he asked, rushing to John's side.

"Sssorry, Brainsss," John said, leaning heavily on his friend. "I guessss I didn't sssee the table."

"You're drunk."

"Asssstute as always," John remarked as Brains helped him to a nearby stool.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be going to bed?"

"Not yet," John replied. "Not untillll I tell you about the drrream."

"The dream?" Brains sat down on the stool next to him. "Yes. The one you mentioned earlier." He cocked his head. "But are you certain you don't want a hangover pill first?"

"Nnno!" John said, shaking his head and waving his arms dramatically. "Ifff I sober up, I migh' not have the nerve."

Brains leaned back into the stool and crossed his arms. He eyed John, who seemed to be trying to gather his thoughts.

"Ookay, it'ssss short. Here't is: I dreamed that I saw Ben's face...or wasss it all of 'im? Hell, I don' remember. Anyway, I saw Ben's face an' then I saw you-you-yoursss," he hiccupped. "Sorry."

Brains waved the apology away.

"You were right nex' to each other an' then without warning, POOF!" John jumped out of his chair, throwing his hands toward the sky, making Brains jump. "You merged and became one."

Brains waited, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. When John did nothing but sit back down...or rather, _thump_ back down...onto the stool, he raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"An' what?"

"And? We merged and then what happened?"

"That wazzit."

"That was it? That was what you had to be drunk to tell me?" Brains got up and rolled his eyes. He moved to a cabinet against a far wall, took something out of it, then returned to John with his hand outstretched.

"What's 'is?"

"Take it," Brains said. "And that's an order."

"You're not my boss."

"For right now, I am. Take it, John."

John sighed and took the pill, popping it into his mouth and swallowing it dry. Slowly his eyes began to clear. Slowly he began to sit up straighter. And slowly he began to realize what state he'd been in and how silly the 'dream' had sounded.

"I think I'll go to bed."

"That's probably a good i-idea."

"I...Brains, do you think I'm crazy?"

"Why would I think that?"

"You _do_ think I'm crazy." John turned back around and stood right in front of him. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"I suppose I do, yes."

"Well, if you think about it, it _is_ possible. Isn't it?"

"It would depend on when I was actually born. Everyone's always assumed you and I are the same age, but if I'm older, even by a minute, then the reincarnation theory wouldn't hold water."

"You're not stammering."

Brains smiled a lopsided smile. "One shouldn't have to keep up acts around one's best friends."

John chuckled. "I _knew_ there was something fishy about it. You never seemed to stammer in the same places!"

Brains shook his head. "It doesn't matter, really. What matters is that unless and until we know exactly when I was born, it does us no good to postulate about your twin's soul."

"But what if you _are_ him, Brains? Even if you were born a _second_ after he died it would be possible. Don't you want to know?"

"I just told you, we _can't_ know unless we find out when I was born."

"But why do you need that much proof?" John asked. "You can't tell me you haven't felt it. _You're_ the one who brought it up, after all."

"Then you _did_ hear me in the hospital ward," Brains said, looking down at the floor.

"Yes, I did. And...well, even if you're _not_ my Ben's soul, even if you _didn't_ come in as Brains after you died as Ben to provide me with the brother I wasn't going to be allowed to have, you _were_ right."

"I...I was?"

"Yes," John nodded. "Because you have been my brother in every way. Even without Tracy blood flowing in your veins."

With that, John turned and walked out of the lab. As the doors swished shut behind him, Brains allowed the ghost of a smile to creep across his face. "Wouldn't that be the shit," he whispered, "if it turned out _that's_ why I don't have an identity?" He turned the lab lights off and exited into the hall. "Wouldn't that just be the shit."

* * *

><p>The sun was just breaking over the horizon the next morning when Virgil taxied Tracy Two out of the hangar and onto the runway. "Virgil to Base. Request permission to take off."<p>

"_This is Base. Permission granted. Be safe, son."_

"I will, Father. See you in a few."

With that, Virgil revved up the engines, sped along the tarmac and took off just before reaching the end of the runway. He soared into the sky and before an entire minute had passed, was just a dark dot against the pinks and purples of the early morning sky.

* * *

><p>Penelope turned at the sound of the suite door hissing open. She smiled as Jeff walked through the sitting room, through his bedroom proper and out onto the balcony. He enveloped her in his arms and they kissed passionately.<p>

"My goodness, Jeff, but you're an animal."

"_You_ unleashed it, Penny, it's _your_ fault."

"Well, let's just see if we can't tame that beast, then, shall we?"

Jeff laughed as she led him to the bed. "What are my sons going to say when they find out what old Dad's been up to?"

"I'll tell you what they'll say, Jeff," Penny purred as she pushed him back onto the bed. "They'll say it's about fucking time."

Jeff laughed even harder as Penelope pounced.

* * *

><p>"Crap. If it's not one thing it's another," Scott sighed, closing the vidphone connection with much more force than was necessary.<p>

"What's going on?" Alan asked as he ambled into the lounge.

"Oh, hey, Al. It's not _huge_ huge, really, but there's been a snag in Rocky Ford. I guess Virg and I'll have to handle it what with all of you leaving here in a few hours."

Alan approached the desk and leaned against it. He said nothing, just looked at Scott for several long moments until at last Scott asked, "What? Do I have a booger or something?"

Alan laughed. "No. And even if you did, I wouldn't tell you."

"I know. You're a real pain-in-the-ass, you know that?"

"I'm going to miss you."

Scott smiled. "Me too. Just take care over there, will you? I brought you into this world-"

"I know, I know," Alan chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "and therefore you'd damn well better be the one who gets to take me out." He moved closer and put a hand on Scott's shoulder. "Don't work too hard, okay?"

"You know me."

"Yeah, that's why I said it." Alan stood and headed out to the middle of the lounge. He took a few moments to look at the row of portraits on the wall.

Scott came up and stood next to him. "Sometimes I wish things could go back to before Manhattan."

"A lot of people do," Alan sighed. "Well, I'd better finish packing. Tin-Tin's already telling me what I can and can't bring to the palace."

Scott laughed. "The palace. My little brother a sultan."

"Whoa, now, Nellie, don't put the cart before the horse. I'm not sultaning anything."

"Nothing except the sultana, that is."

"Hey!" Alan said, shoving into him. He looked over at Scott and smiled sadly. "Damn, bro."

"Yeah, Al," Scott nodded, looking back at the portraits. "Damn."

* * *

><p>"Aren't you afraid of...I don't know...something being <em>wrong<em> with the boy?"

"Sure, I've thought about it. I used it as my argument to try and get her to have an abortion, but she absolutely refused." Ned leaned back in the cockpit chair he occupied next to Virgil and sighed loudly. "Women."

"Well, I think it's pretty magnanimous of you to even offer to help with it."

"You know me, I'm just an old softy."

"Yeah," Virgil snorted. "Old softy, that's you." Virgil eyed him for a moment before opening his mouth again. "You know, Ned, I've sometimes thought you were the biggest fool I'd ever met...at other times, the bravest. But I have to say no matter how I've felt in the past, I'm glad you're going with Dad on this."

"You are?" Ned asked, quirking a brow. "Why?"

"Because if you're there, the world will know exactly what's happening. And if things get bad, it won't get brushed under the rug."

"You're damn right, it won't," Ned nodded, closing his eyes. "And I'm not leaving Malaysia unless and until things settle down enough there as to become utterly boring."

"Then may you come back quickly, Ned," Virgil said with all the reverence of prayer. "And may you be bored to tears."

* * *

><p>"Take care of yourself, Al," Gordon said, gripping his brother in a tight bear hug.<p>

"I will, Gordo. I'll call. Often."

"Well, not _too_ often. He needs his beauty sleep, you know," Virgil said, yanking Gordon away by the collar. He next enveloped Alan in a hug. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Been there, done that."

"And bought the tee shirt, no doubt," Scott added as Virgil backed away. "Come here." Scott hugged him hard, but quickly let go. He then took Alan's hand and shook it. "Promise me you won't get hitched without us there, huh?"

"I won't, Scott," Alan said, blushing. "I promise. You guys...you all take care of each other." He turned to where John stood slightly back. "And _you_," he said, awkwardly raising his hand.

Alan and John had never been close, per se. Well, John wasn't really close with _any_ of his brothers, but he and Alan just hadn't ever had much in common aside from being spacegoing sons of a former astronaut. That was about the only thing they ever discussed at any length or with any depth. As such, a full-blown relationship had never really developed - compounded by the fact that they were rarely around each other for more than a few hours per month during the change in shift aboard Thunderbird Five.

Now, however, John figured if his brothers had done it, he could, too. And so he shoved past Alan's hand and gave him a quick hug. "Keep that little sister of mine safe, Al," he said gruffly.

"I will," Alan grinned as Brains approached. "I might be calling you for some gadgets."

Brains smiled and nodded as he shook Alan's hand. At last the good-byes had been said. Tears filled Tin-Tin's eyes as she turned from the steps up to the jet and waved at everyone. Ned, Jeff, Penny and Kyrano had already boarded and were ready to go. Tin-Tin disappeared into the body of Tracy Four. Gordon high-tailed it into the elevator. Scott frowned, but knew he needed to let Gordon be alone right now.

They waited until Alan had boarded the jet and closed the door securely, then Scott and Virgil pulled the steps away and into the hangar. As the two of them joined Brains and John on the tarmac, Jeff fired the jet up and taxied down the runway. It took off, landing gear disappearing into its belly.

"There they go," Scott said softly. He turned to look at Virgil, took a deep breath and forced a smile. "Let's get our asses to Kans-ess and find out what's wrong with that damn contractor."

Virgil nodded as he and Scott went back into Two's hangar.

"I guess that leaves us holding down the fort," John commented. "Hey, I was wondering, Brains..."

"Yes?"

"Did I see you talking with Kyrano earlier this morning?"

"Yes, you did."

"Well? Were you talking to him about...you know."

"As a matter of fact, I was."

"And?"

Brains smiled. "All he said was that we should never close our minds off to possibilities."

"You know, ever since he regained his memories, he's become more cryptic than he ever was before."

"I know," Brains nodded as Tracy One moved out of the hangar. Scott waved from the cockpit and before long, Brains and John were truly alone, having no idea where Gordon had disappeared to.

"It's quiet here," John commented, looking around.

"Thank God," Brains said. "Now I can actually get something done!"

John chuckled and the men made their way to the elevator as Brains used his watch to close Two's hangar door. "Let's raid the fridge first."

"You're hungry?"

"Famished."

"Good. I have a recipe I've been wanting to try out on someone."

"Brains? You _cook_?"

"It's not any more difficult than basic algebra, John," Brains said arrogantly.

"That depends on whether or not you have a penchant for burning things on low heat," John replied knowingly. "All right, I'm game. What's the concoction called?"

"Steak a la Brains."

"That sounds disgusting."

"It'll be good, trust me."

John frowned as they exited the elevator and headed for the kitchen. "You know, I think the last time you told me that I wound up in the hospital ward with a first degree burn on my hand."

Brains stiffened and turned to look at him in horror. Then just as quickly the look melted and he elbowed him. "That is _not_ true!"

"But I had you."

"No, you didn't."

"Sure, I did. For at least...five seconds."

"Maybe two."

"No way, man. Four."

"Three."

"You start counting down Thunderbirds and I'm out of here, steak or no steak."

Brains and John chuckled, but John suddenly stopped up short as they entered the kitchen. Because he'd just realized...they were bantering. _Ban_tering! Just like brothers. Maybe even just like he would've with his twin.

He liked this idea. He liked this idea a _lot_.

* * *

><p>Not many words were exchanged as they began what was sure to be a life-changing journey for them all. Penelope leaned back in her seat and just listened to the sounds of the plane, but more importantly the sounds of Jeff's heart beating...something she would <em>swear<em> she could hear, though she couldn't fathom how.

Her thoughts traveled to Parker, who had nearly died himself and had been so heroic and instrumental in the most recent events. Parker, what would she do without him? She heard the not-so-soft snores that told her he'd fallen asleep already. Smiling to herself, she mused that the man could fall asleep even if the atom were split right next to his head. He'd follow her to the ends of the Earth and she knew it.

Though she had tried to dissuade him from making this journey, she was more than glad he'd been pig-headed enough to tell her, not in so many words, to sod off. "H'I'm goin' wi' you, Mee-lady, or y'her not going!" with the emphasis on that last 'g' that she so adored. Bless him, if he'd been anyone else she may have found it was he who held her heart rather than Jeff Tracy. But if he'd been anyone else, she wouldn't even have felt affection.

And Jeff? _Ker-thump...ker-thump...ker-thump._ After the animal he'd proven himself to be in the bedroom, she was _quite_ certain..._ker-thump...ker-thump...ker-thump..._that even his sons would have a hard time keeping up with him. All in all, she was happy. She was with the man she loved and he finally..._finally_...had let her in.

_Ker-thump...ker-thump...ker-ker-thump..._

Her eyes opened wide and she turned to look at him. The standard headset was in place; his eyes were focused on the instrument panel. She glanced at it but saw no alarm indicators. She looked back at his face, a slight wrinkle forming between her brows. Had she heard that right?

_Ker-thump...thump-thump...ker-thump..._

Penny sat straight up in her seat. "Jeff."

"Mm?" he replied softly, looking her way.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Sure I am, Penny. Why do you ask?"

Shaking her head, she mumbled, "No reason," and closed her eyes. Had to be her imagination. No one could hear another person's heartbeat without at least a stethoscope, let alone the usual medical equipment they had on hand.

But Alan wasn't so dismissive. Kyrano rested comfortably in the seat next to Parker, and when Alan turned to look at Tin-Tin, he found those large, hazel eyes looking right back at him. "You heard?" he whispered.

She nodded. Then she placed her hand on the back of Jeff's seat, which she was directly behind, and closed her eyes. Alan clasped her hand. He, too, closed his eyes, and reached for Penny. His fingers touched her arm. She turned to look inquisitively at the pair and saw Alan's outstretched fingers. Instinctively she took his right hand with her left, leaned back and closed her eyes.

_"Listen to me...open your mind...hear Jeff's heart..."_

Kyrano's eyes snapped open. He sat bolt upright and immediately reached his right hand forward to touch Penny's right shoulder. From his seat directly behind her, it was easy for her to reach back and grasp his hand firmly.

_"My daughter, let us concentrate..."_

They all heard voices, which faded away and left them with a near cacophony of thoughts, feelings, desires, words and emotions. Kyrano quickly shut Parker's messy subconscious out of the equation and silently admonished Alan for his stray thoughts. Deeper they dove into the sound...listening...

"_I can hear it,"_ came Penny's thought. _"I could hear it when I was awake."_

"_You are in tune with him now,_" Kyrano advised. _"Let us hear."_

Penny concentrated on bringing her mind back to the present enough until once again she could hear the beating of Jeff's heart.

_Ker-thump...ker-thump...ker-thump..._

"_It was there. It was irregular."_

They listened as it chugged away, happily oblivious to be the focus of such a group of minds.

_Ker-thump...ker-thump...ker-thump..._

"_Maybe it was only my imagination."_

"_No,"_ was Kyrano's concerned thought in reply. _"We must be certain."_

_Thump...ker-thump...thump-thump...ker-thump..."There!"_

"_She's right!" _Alan's thought came over so forcefully it caused Tin-Tin to cringe.

_Ker-ker-thump...thump-thump-ker-thump...ker-thump...thump...ker-ker-ker-thump..._

Four pairs of eyes snapped open. Hands left one another.

"Dad?"

"What is it, son?"

"Mr. Tracy?"

"Tin-Tin, I told you to-"

"_Jeff!_" Penny cried as Jeff slumped forward against the yoke. The plane began to dive.

"Oh, God," Alan said as he leapt forward and pulled his dad from the seat. "Tin-Tin get the controls."

She slid over Jeff's body and lifted the headset from him, settling it over her ears before opening an emergency channel to Tracy Island. "Come in, John! Brains!"

Alan laid his father along the center aisle as Parker grabbed the med-kit from a nearby compartment. Ripping his father's shirt open, the youngest Tracy kept his cool, doing what he knew how to do best: save a life.

* * *

><p>"I hate to admit it, Brains, but that steak would've put Tomás's to shame."<p>

"I've never been to Tomás's."

"What, in Manhattan?"

"Nope."

"Hell, I'll have to take you there."

"It's a date," Brains replied, then reddened as he put the last of the dishes in the auto-washer.

John chuckled. "You watch out, I'll hold you to that." He watched as Brains finished up. "So? Now what?"

"Work."

"Work? You are _no_ fun. Worse than dad."

Brains walked right up to him so they were face-to-face, the few inches John had on Brains being the only thing keeping them from touching noses. "Luke, I am not your father."

"Oh, dear _God_!" John guffawed. "You watched Alan's last _Star Wars_ marathon!"

"The force will be with you."

John howled as the image of Brains dressed like Princess Leia on the barge came to mind. "Oh my _God_ you don't want to know the mental images!"

"Something skimpy and feminine?"

John stopped laughing, his jaw dropping very nearly to the ground. It was Brains' turn to chortle.

"Gotcha."

"No."

"No?"

"No. That's _exactly_ what I was thinking. How did you know that?"

"It's only logical."

"It's nothing of the sort!"

Brains hurried out into the hall and hit the elevator's call button.

"You get back here!"

"Why? So you can go one further than what we're already freaking out about and say that not only am I the reincarnation of your lost twin but we can also read each others' minds?"

John crossed his arms over his broad chest and rocked back on his heels. "You want to tell me why that is any farther-fetched than transferring essences from one body to another or crossing into other dimensions where our family exists completely apart from us?"

The doors swished open but Brains didn't board. "You have a point, I guess. But why does it matter so much that you keep harping on it?"

"Dad told Al something," John said, eyes taking on a faraway look. "He said that once you find what you've been looking for, never let go no matter how hard it is to hold on." He seemed to come back to himself, light blue eyes meeting darker ones. "You know?"

"I think I do, John," Brains replied, looking away. "But we have so much to do and we're alone here to do it."

"I know," John said, placing a hand on Brains' shoulder and guiding him into the elevator. His eyes never left him as the doors slowly swished closed. "I know."

As the familiar whir of the machinery told him the elevator was taking Brains down into the bowels of the island, another whir caught his attention; only this one was much, much louder and more insistent. It was coming from the lounge. And he knew exactly what it was.

Three long strides and he arrived in the middle of a blinding white light that forced him to shield his eyes.

"John?"

"Ben?"

By the time he could see, Ben was nothing but a crumpled heap on the floor, with smoke rising from what was left of his burned jeans and tee shirt.

"_Ben!"_ John knelt next to his twin and jerked his hand away as the heat from Ben's body nearly burned him. He raised his wrist. _"Brains! Get up here with a med-kit now!"_

Before John could assess Ben's medical condition, the alarm sounded. He looked up to find Scott's portrait replaced by a frantic-looking Tin-Tin with a lot of commotion behind her.

"John! Come in!"

"Tin-Tin? What the hell?"

"It's your father! Something's happened with his heart! We have to make an emergency landing!"

"Is he okay? Shit!"

"Stable, John!" came Alan's voice over the intercom. "Kyrano's with him!"

John knew innately what that meant. "Got problems of my own, keep me informed!"

"What's going on?" Penny asked over Tin-Tin's shoulder.

"I don't know. Ben just showed up and he's hurt bad."

"Ben?" came a chorus of questioning voices.

Brains ran into the room. "What's going on?"

"Don't know, check him over."

Brains set to work while John turned to look at the portrait filled with concerned faces. "Guys, I don't have a clue. The portal opened and when I could see again, Ben was at my feet with smoke coming off him. Brains is checking him out. Father?"

"I've stabilized him with the synthetic vasodilator and Kyrano's got him in a mind-meld."

John almost thought the phrase would be funny if not for the circumstances.

"Good, Alan," Brains confirmed from his place on the floor behind John. "Send his vitals to my comm."

Brains watched the readout from the portable Life Sign Indicator he'd attached to Ben's forehead while at the same time checking Jeff's vitals as Alan fed them through. "How's it look?" John asked anxiously.

"You've got Jeff a-okay, Alan," Brains called out. "But he'll need a hospital."

"I've got us clearance to land in Los Angeles, Brains. They're going to have an ambulance waiting."

"F.A.B., Tin-Tin."

"And Ben?" Alan asked, remembering how he and Kyrano had gone to fetch the missing brother in their hour of need.

"He appears to be stable but something is making his heart skip around in a way I don't like at all. John, help me get him to the sick ward."

"All right, you keep me informed, Tin-Tin."

"I will, John."

"You likewise about Ben," Alan said. "I like that guy."

John's mouth quirked in a half-smile he didn't quite feel as he lifted Ben under his arms and Brains lifted his ankles.

"Shit, it's always something," he muttered as they made their way to the elevator. "I give up."

* * *

><p>"What exactly is Kyrano doing?" Penny asked, feeling decidedly left out and helpless.<p>

"Keeping Dad calm and making sure he doesn't get lonely out there."

"H'out where?"

Penny let the ghost of a smile appear on her face. "In a place only he can lead him to, I suspect, Parker." She looked at the placid face of the man she loved. "A place he'd only ever let Kyrano into."

Tin-Tin looked briefly over her shoulder at Alan. Alan looked at Penny, who turned in her seat and stared out the window. _"Uh-oh," _he thought.

"_Uh-oh is right,"_ he heard in reply. _"She just doesn't understand."_

Alan's head whipped around to stare at Tin-Tin's profile. He saw her cheekbone rise and knew she was smiling. Confident that his father would be okay under Kyrano's care, he allowed himself to smile as well. There was a _lot_ he had to get used to. A _lot_.

* * *

><p>"He's stable, John."<p>

John breathed an audible sigh of relief. "I don't know how much more of this we can take."

"We?"

"Yeah. You, me, all of us." John looked strangely at Brains. "What's wrong? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Well, I'm just trying to figure you out."

John snorted. "Good luck. I haven't even done that yet."

Brains turned around, leaned against Ben's bed and folded his arms across his chest.

"I'm not one of your experiments."

"You're turning into one."

John threw his hands up in the air as he crossed from the far wall to stand closer to his friend. "All right, what do you want to know?"

"Why are you acting like it's no big deal that Ben is here?"

John's mouth opened, then closed, then opened...mindful of the fact he looked like a dying fish, he clamped his jaw shut and looked away.

"Come on, John. One minute you risk everything by using the IDT to go over there, you have a complete aversion to the family. The next you're saying I'm your twin's reincarnation and then Ben comes back and you barely bat an eye."

"I will have you know I batted several eyes before Tin-Tin called and before you got up to the lounge."

"You're not batting them anymore."

"What do you want me to say?"

"You're the one so all-fired ready to take this to the next level, so how about we start with the truth?"

"Fine. The truth? The truth."

"Yes. No theories. No postulates. No verbal fruit salad. The truth."

"The truth is I kind of liked that I had started thinking of you as my long-lost twin."

"And?"

"And?"

"When Ben reappeared just now?"

John looked away.

"Oh."

He looked back. "Oh?"

"Oh, no."

"What?"

Brains seemed to sway, but steadied himself on the bed behind him, his elbow slipping to rest on Ben's hip.

"Brains!" John was at his side in an instant. He held Brains' arm and led him to a nearby chair. "What's wrong?"

"I just...I don't know, I felt dizzy."

"You okay?"

"I think so. Maybe some water. I haven't had much hydration these last few days."

Nodding, John went to the fridge in the sick ward entry. He pulled out a bottle of water. As the fridge door swung closed, there was a loud clatter from the first ward room. "Brains!" He ran back inside and stopped dead in his tracks. Brains was lying on the floor in a heap. Standing over him, hypo in hand, was Ben.

"Hello, John."

The last thing he saw were Ben's eyes looking directly into his own.


	8. Hardship

_While Scott and Virgil find out just exactly what's wrong in Kansas, Alan's group discovers it wasn't a heart attack Jeff had, and are stunned to learn the truth. And Tracy Island is no longer safe._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>HARDSHIP<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>Family members both blood and extended, waited anxiously for word on Jeff Tracy's condition. Kyrano sat quietly with his eyes closed. Alan was next to him holding Tin-Tin on his lap. Penelope felt Parker's eyes boring holes in her skull but refused to look at him. In spite of what had transpired between her and Jeff, what happened in the jet had filled her once more with doubt.<p>

And Lady Penelope was not used to any sort of doubt whatsoever.

Realizing that the others were casting glances her way now as well, she finally looked up into Parker's eyes just as Ned's voice wafted to her ears.

"That's right, and that's all for now. I'll let you know more later."

She whirled to where Ned stood in the hospital foyer. It was only through the luck of the auto-doors having swished open that she'd heard him at all. Stalking quickly toward him, he shrank back when he turned and saw the look on her face.

"To whom, may I ask, were you revealing information?"

"To nobody, Lady Creighton-Ward."

"My right foot you weren't." She glared at him. "I haven't ever trusted you, Ned Cook, and I'm not about to begin now."

"But Dad trusts him," Alan said as he and Tin-Tin approached.

Penny gritted her teeth. There were a hundred things she had to say right on the tip of her tongue but she held them back. "He was speaking with someone, and I would say the timing is rather obvious, with Jeff have landed in hospital."

"Ned?" Alan prompted.

"I was on the phone with Adi, letting her know of the delay."

"Did you tell her why?" Penny asked.

"Vaguely, yes."

"Only confirming my suspicions. We don't know Adi, nor how well she can keep secrets."

"Penny," came Tin-Tin's soft voice. "May I speak with you outside for a moment, please?"

"Whatever you have to say can be said right here," Ned challenged. "I will not have my integrity questioned. I know who to tell what and when to keep my mouth shut. I should think you'd have seen that much by now." He glared at Penelope. "I don't have to prove anything to you. I don't care _who_ you are."

Tin-Tin had taken Penny's elbow and started leading her outside. "Perhaps you _should_," Penelope retorted before allowing herself to be extricated from the situation.

"What the hell is _her_ problem?"

"She is understandably upset," Kyrano responded, startling Alan.

"I wish you wouldn't sneak up on me like that."

The ghost of a smile crossed Kyrano's face.

"Why, because of Jeff's heart?"

"Partially," Kyrano nodded. "But also because of what I did after Jeff lost consciousness."

"Well, I don't understand any of that crap." Then realizing he'd just insulted the Malaysian, Ned quickly added, "Sorry."

"No apology required. Not all comprehend this, and Lady Penelope is one who struggles with it, even with what she herself has witnessed." He took a deep breath and lowered his eyes. "She will learn to understand it."

Ned looked out the clear glass doors at where Penny and Tin-Tin sat on a bench beneath a tall palm tree. "What if she doesn't?"

Alan just looked at Kyrano. Nobody needed to answer that one.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Scott?"<p>

"Mm?"

"Where's Gordon?"

Scott blinked and looked away from the jet's control panel. "Where's Gordon?"

"I asked first."

Silence ensued as the wheels of Scott's mind turned. "He didn't go with Dad's group."

"Nope."

"And he didn't come with us."

"Not that I can see."

"I don't have a clue."

Virgil activated a secure frequency. "Tracy One to Tracy Island. Come in."

There was no answer.

"Odd," Virgil commented.

"Maybe the guys are busy on the 'birds."

Virgil shrugged. "Tracy One to Tracy Four."

This time Scott raised an eyebrow. "What gives?" He raised his watch to his face. "Scott calling Dad."

Nothing.

Virgil repeated his brother's motion. "Virgil to John."

"What the hell? Scott to Gordon."

"Gordon here."

"Gordo? Where are you?"

"Way the hell down in the underbelly of our island working on the final sensor array for Four. Why?"

"Where's John?"

Gordon's pictured jerked quickly, indicating he'd shrugged. "I've been down here since Al took off."

"Have you heard from Alan's group?" Virgil asked from the side.

"No, I haven't heard from anybody. Why are you asking?"

"We can't raise Dad, John, Tracy Four or Base. You're the first one I got."

Gordon's brow furrowed. "I'll see if I can find John or Brains."

"Thanks, Gordo. Scott out." He turned to find Virgil's goldenrod eyes staring at him. "Try one of the others."

"Virgil to Tin-Tin."

"Here, Virgil."

"Hey, what's going on? Tracy Four didn't respond and neither did Dad. And you don't look like you're in the air."

"Didn't John contact you?"

"About what?"

"Oh, dear. Virgil, I'm very sorry..."

* * *

><p>Gordon kept trying to reach John and Brains on their wristcoms but neither answered. Making his way to the lounge, he turned on the island's single most powerful scanning tool and brought up the image on the large movie-like screen hidden in the wall behind his father's desk. Within 30 seconds the apparatus was running at full-strength and Gordon frowned when <em>three<em> other human forms were revealed.

"There should only be three total, not four," he mumbled.

Two were on the tennis court beyond the pool and the third was just coming from there, making its way toward the villa. Gordon's mind raced, mentally ticking off where everyone was and wondering who'd gotten left behind. No, John and Brains were to remain here with him to work on 'birds; Dad, Penny, K-Man, Tin-Tin, Al, Ned and Parker were off to Malaysia; and the hyphenated duo were on their way to Kansas.

So who the hell else was there?

"Maybe someone from the other dimension?" Gordon wondered aloud. The person headed toward the villa only moments ago veered away down along the beach in a direction that would most immediately lead to the runway. Gordon decided his best bet was to follow the one that was moving. He tried calling John and Brains both one more time to no avail. Heat crept up into his face, needles pricking his neck.

Turning his watch to silent mode, Gordon removed his shoes and bulky overalls. Left in nothing but navy blue boxers and a white tank, he ran to a small weapons locker hidden in the wall out in the hall between the lounge and kitchen and grabbed a laser rifle.

Years of living with the Kyranos, being an International Rescue operative and relying on himself in WASP had taught him to listen to his instincts.

* * *

><p>"Mr. Tracy?"<p>

Alan stepped away from the small circle he and his companions had formed. Tin-Tin had just come back with Penny and was telling them all that Scott and Virgil now knew about their father, and that John had never contacted them. They'd been contemplating trying to get hold of Gordon themselves when interrupted.

"I'm Alan Tracy."

The stereotypically clad doctor shook his hand. "Dr. McCabe, Mr. Tracy, I've been attending your father."

"What is his condition?" Penny asked from slightly behind them.

"Mr. Tracy, I must speak with you." McCabe eyed the rest of the group. "Alone."

Alan nodded, exchanged a brief glance with Tin-Tin, and followed McCabe back through the first set of double doors that led to the Emergency Room proper. "What's this about?"

The doctor led Alan back through a maze of beds, nurses, bustling orderlies and a few crying and screaming patients, then beyond some restrooms and more private-looking rooms into a suite. A quick look around told Alan this was a group of doctors' offices probably shared by whomever was rotating ER duty that month.

They stepped into the first office on their right, McCabe closing the door behind them. He sat in his chair and rubbed his temples before gesturing for Alan to take one of the two seats across from him.

"Doctor, there's only so much anticipation-"

"Yes, I know, I apologize, it's just that he…I don't quite know how to put this…"

Alan's heart leapt to his throat. "Is he-?"

"No, he's alive and as far as I can tell, he's stable."

The adrenaline rush was still on. "As far as you can tell? What does _that_ mean?"

McCabe sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Steepling his fingers in front of his face, he peered at Alan beyond their thickness. Bugs crawling on his skin. That's what the look made him feel. Bugs.

"Your father appears to have something medically impossible going on."

"Which is?"

"He has two heartbeats."

Well, at least he didn't feel the bugs anymore. "Ex_cuse_ me?"

"Two distinct heartbeats." The doctor turned his computer flatscreen so Alan could see it, then typed in a password. Within moments, an EEG readout appeared, complete with sound. "You know how to read one of these?"

Alan nodded, already engrossed in what the squiggly lines and odd beeping sounds were telling him. "How is this possible?"

"I told you, it's medically _im_possible. I have no way of explaining it. I've cracked open all the texts, done all the live searches I can and consulted two cardiologists already. That's why it's taken so long for me to let you know what's going on. Because _I_ don't know."

"But you say he's stable?"

"Seems to be. It wasn't a heart attack he had at all, at least, not from what we can tell."

"X-rays? CT?"

"Everything shows normal. One heart beating perfectly fine, yet every listening device and monitoring device we have showing two distinct heartbeats. This is live. This is his heart _right now_."

"What's the course of action?"

McCabe cocked his head. "You sound like a medic."

Alan shrugged. "I've had a bit of training."

"Well, Mr. Tracy, I can only suggest that the two cardiologists I spoke to and probably several more will want to examine your father. Right now, he's a medical mystery. In today's day and age, those aren't always easy to come by."

"You mean you want to turn him into a lab rat?"

"No! I want to find out what's _wrong_ with him!"

Alan just shook his head and waved his hand apologetically. "When can I see him?"

"One at a time, immediate family members only."

"Well, if you mean blood, that's me. But everyone out there is my father's immediate family."

"I'm sorry, blood only. Especially since this is something very unusual."

"That's an understatement," Alan replied. "Where is he?"

"The last room just before this office suite. Thirty minutes and then I need to make sure he rests."

Alan nodded and shook McCabe's hand. "Thanks."

"I'll let you know as soon as we can figure out what the next steps will be. And we are having a private room prepared upstairs."

"Okay, I'll check back with you in thirty minutes."

Alan walked out of the office suite straight as an arrow. It was only when he reached the hall that he seemed to lose his balance for a moment.

Two heartbeats?

_Two?_

* * *

><p>Virgil's and Scott's feet hit the tarmac at the same time. Neither was pleased with the lack of communication from the island, nor their inability to reach Gordon, John or Brains. There was little worry in the backs of their minds for their father. Neither of them thought him to be in any real danger given Tin-Tin's account of what had happened.<p>

They were both just glad he hadn't been alone in the jet when the attack had occurred. No, Jeff Tracy was surrounded by many people who cared about him. No real reason to panic on that count.

They had to meet the foreman of the new building project in 30 minutes. Sliding behind the wheel of the shiny black Hummer, Scott chuckled when Virgil raised an eyebrow over his choice in vehicles.

"Isn't this a bit...big...for just us?"

"I felt like having something big."

Virgil's mouth opened then clamped shut and Scott almost choked on his laughter. When they had gotten going, however, Virgil tried three more times to reach the three current residents of Tracy Island.

Scott's mouth was no longer upturned in laughter. Virgil's was set in a grim line. If this new building were not their father's dream; if the issue being faced by the building crew were not so critical; if, if, if...they would be jetting back home as quick as they'd come.

But this needed to be handled. Gordon, John and Brains were all big boys. And if there had been some sort of explosion or other reason for them to be injured, the Island's or Five's sensors would have picked it up and sounded an alarm.

That wasn't the case. Whatever they were doing, Scott and Virg had to trust they were okay. That didn't help their mood as they pulled onto the site, got out of the Hummer and approached Shal Temponi, who handed them two orange hardhats.

"Nice to see you both. Thank you for coming, I'm glad you could make it so quickly."

"What seems to be the trouble?" Scott asked, only half his mind on the short and stocky foreman.

"It's the body."

Instantly Scott and Virgil were one hundred percent there.

"Body?" Virgil repeated, glancing sidelong at his brother.

"Body. The Feds are on their way."

"Native American? Burial site maybe?"

"We can't really tell, Scott. It's more bones than anything, but the fact is that the owners need to be here to meet with authorities who-" Several cars pulled into what was currently the half-finished parking lot for the new building. "Who are arriving as we speak."

"Well, if this is an old Indian burial site, we'll deal with it."

"It's not quite that simple."

The younger men squinted at him through the Kansas sun's bright rays. "In what way?" Scott asked.

"It isn't so much the body that's got their panties up their cracks," Shal responded as seven dark-suited men approached. "It's the size of it."

"The size?"

"And the fact that there are more."

Virgil's and Scott's eyebrows shot up simultaneously. "Shal, what the hell is going on here?" Scott asked with no small measure of annoyance.

"Kids," Shal replied as the suits came within hearing distance. "We accidentally dug them up."

Virgil swallowed hard. "How many?" he asked in near whisper.

"Mr. Tracy?"

"Yes?" Virg and Scott replied together, turning to face the man who seemed to be in charge of the group of dark-clad men.

After a couple handshakes and brief introduction so the guy knew which Tracy was which, the suit straightened his tie and removed his sunglasses. "I'm Special Agent Lars Jaansen."

"What is this about, Jaansen? Indian burial grounds wouldn't bring the United States government into it."

"You're right. Tamponi here sent along photos to the KC field office. It took ten minutes for us to make the connection."

"What connection?" Virgil asked, unable to get the image of dead kids' bodies out of his mind.

"You ever heard of the Toronto Park Killer?"

The men nodded. Who hadn't? He was the U.S.'s most prolific serial killer in decades and the authorities had never been able to touch him or figure out what he was doing with the children he was taking. In fact, they had always only assumed the majority of the children to be dead because only three had been found, all deceased.

All the children, between the ages of five and fourteen, both boys and girls, had disappeared while camping in or visiting the Toronto State Park with their families, the northern-most edge of which was not even 8 miles from where they now stood. Some thought the bodies might be in Toronto Lake, but it had been dragged five times with no results. Ten years later, kids were still disappearing, but for the families, no answers...no clues.

"We know of him," Scott replied quietly.

"One of the pictures gave us some clues that the body may be that of a child taken from the Park eight years ago. Her clothing tipped us off."

"It's gotten so bad," a second dark-suited man chimed in, "that parents don't bring their kids to the Park anymore, not even to visit."

"This is _his_ burial ground?" Virgil asked, eyes begging Jaansen not to confirm the statement.

"It would appear so, Mr. Tracy," Jaansen replied. "I'm sorry, but your site is shut down until we find out what's going on and get those bodies out of here."

"How many?" Scott whispered.

Shal looked away. "We dug up eight."

"But," Jaansen added, "we believe there will be many more."

Virgil couldn't look at his brother.

Scott thought he was going to be sick.

* * *

><p>The soft, warm breeze wafted across the thin cotton fabric separating the hard-muscled body from the tropical evening air. The island was quiet as Gordon made his way down the front steps. Digital binoculars showed the two individuals in the area of the tennis court were the only other two who were supposed to be on the island: John and Brains. They'd been tied to the green rubber-covered chain link fence that surrounded the regulation court, and from the looks of it, both were unconscious.<p>

He could feel his heart thumping against his ribcage. He could actually feel the adrenaline begin flowing through his veins. And Gordon felt something that even dangling above a fully engulfed skyscraper he never felt: fear.

_If John and Brains are over there, who's near the runway?_

If John and Brains are tied up and unconscious, the other person is not friend, but foe.

_If foe, who is it? What does he want?_

Had to be a 'he.' A 'she' couldn't disable Brains and John like that.

_Or could she?_

Gordon reached the bottom of the long, curved staircase. He glanced once more toward the tennis court, then skirted around the edge of the large, leafy plants that hid the lower portion of one of Kyrano's many gardens. He registered the silky softness of the leaves sliding over his shins on some level, but his eyes were firmly trained ahead.

_There. There he is. It's a he. Too big, too muscular to be a she._

He whipped the diginocs up to his eyes but the someone was gone. Pins prickling his neck again, he slung them over his left shoulder, grabbed the laser rifle and held it steady as he moved forward with the stealth of a cat.

Where had the intruder disappeared to?

If he _was_ from another dimension, had he gone back? Gordon hadn't seen the telltale bright light or heard the strange whirring sound. Creeping forward, listening as hard as he could, watching as closely as he could. He reached the edge of the runway at last but in that long, open space there was nothing but the remainder of the day's heat shimmering up from the concrete. The cliff face was closed and intact. The elevator next to it also closed.

Had the intruder gone that way? How would he have known where it was? It was so well hidden, the back of Gordon's brain reminded him, that half the Tracys had had trouble finding it when they'd first moved there. Could a stranger have found it this easily?

Was the unknown man therefore now inside the heart and soul of Tracy Island?

Scanning his surroundings, finding a distinct lack of movement or anything off at all, Gordon concluded his thought must be correct. He quickly loped along the runway toward the elevator. The thought had many times occurred that he should call Scott, but what if the stranger could hear him? He'd give his position away; he could be wasting valuable time...

The elevator door opened. Gordon barely had time to gasp in surprise before arms came around him, squeezing his neck and his ribcage. "One false move and you're dead."

"What-?" he choked out through his constricted airway.

The slightly taller man grabbed Gordon's weapons and the diginocs and tossed them aside. "You are coming with me."

He felt the cold, hard steel of a weapon against his cheek and realized it was something like the small machetes they had used to clear extra undergrowth from the island when they'd first begun working on it.

But why? Why would this man who meant so much to his family...and especially to John...do this? Why had he rendered Brains and John unconscious and tied them up? And what were his plans now with Gordon?

"What do you want?" he hissed through clenched teeth as he was dragged into the elevator.

"To regenerate, and take what I should always have had."

Gordon managed to turn his head just enough to see that the eyes were different. "You-you're not Ben."

The responding laugh made him shudder. "Good disguise, don't you think?"

The small machete blade nicked his right cheek. He felt a few drops of blood leak out and slide to his jawbone. "Hood?"

"You are much smarter than the other two were."

Gordon froze in his captor's arms as the elevator rose. He had to do something. And he had to do it fast.

* * *

><p>"Brains!" He worked and worked at the zip tie around his wrists, but it held him fast to the chain link fence surrounding the tennis court. "Dammit, <em>Brains<em>, wake up!" John whispered fiercely, elbowing his friend. "Come on!"

There was no response from the engineer, so John continued struggling against the plastic tie. He felt it begin to cut into his flesh, which only fueled his anger. This couldn't all be falling apart now. So very much had happened to them, and yet there was so much where doors had only been cracked open; things he desperately wanted to know more about, to explore further. John wasn't about to let the Hood beat his family, and most certainly not by using his other-dimensional twin's body.

He elbowed Brains again but he didn't move. His glasses were gone and John knew his own watch had been removed. Frustration set in until he finally gave up bloodying his wrists anymore and sagged against the fence. _Think, John!_ he admonished himself. _Think, dammit, there must be something!_

The Hood, the bastard who simply won't die, has taken over Ben's body. _Check_. Ben's from the other dimension. _Check_. There is no Ben in our dimension. There, John hesitated, looking at the top of Brains' head. What if Brains _is_ the Ben of this dimension? What if that's why he's still unconscious, because Ben's being here is weakening Brains? If that were true, that would mean Ben's body would _also_ be weakening slowly. Gaat would have _no_ idea that Ben and Brains were each other's counterparts. He would've chosen Ben for invading Tracy Island precisely because he believes there _is_ no counterpart for Ben on this side.

But John didn't know for _sure_ whether Brains was his Ben. Without being certain about that, there was no way he could be certain Ben's body would weaken at all. John closed his eyes and let his head fall so it rested atop Brains'. If only he could somehow _know_. It could literally be nothing more than both he and Brains had already talked about; it could be nothing more than both of them longing for the close brother, the connection they'd never had growing up due to this dimension's Ben dying at birth and Brains being an orphan. It was true, John knew, because finding out Ben existed somewhere else had thrown him for a major loop, and had awakened a desperate need for a counterpart. Scott had Virgil, Gordon had Alan. Hell, even their dad had someone now, though it'd taken him a long while to get around to it with Penelope.

So what if this supposed connection John and Brains thought they had was borne of nothing more than their mutual desperation? That would mean Ben wouldn't get any weaker no matter how much time he spent in this dimension. But what if the reverse was true? What if Brains was indeed Ben?

John's head began to throb. There was no one he could ask, no one to supply him with a for-sure answer. The only person he could even fathom asking was Kyrano, and right now he couldn't talk to him. _How do I know_? he wondered. Then aloud, "How do I know for sure?"

"Kn-know what?"

John jumped, pulling his head off his companion's and looking into the large blue eyes that were blinking slowly awake. "Jesus H, Brains, you'll be the death of me."

"Hope not," was the mumbled reply.

John grinned in spite of their situation. "Brains, are you with me yet or still in La-La Land?"

"LaLa."

"No, I need you. I need you to help me think through this."

Brains forced himself to stop blinking, to keep his eyes open, and to look into John's only inches away. "I'm trying," he whispered. "He put the, uh…whammy on me."

"I know, I know. And you're probably susceptible because he's done it to you before."

"He? Ben? Done what?"

"It's not Ben."

"Shit."

"Precisely. Now listen to me, Brains. We need to figure something out and we need to do it fast. At this very moment, Gordon's the only thing standing between us and the Hood, and if what he did to us is any indication, our brother doesn't stand a chance."

Brains' eyes widened. *_Our*_ _brother?_ he thought. He filed that away for later. "O-okay, I'm with you. Shoot."

* * *

><p>"Scott, what are going to do?"<p>

"Nothing," Scott replied, the look on his face now as they stood inside the foreman's trailer the same as it had been outside when they'd first been told the news by FBI Agent Jaansen. "There's nothing we _can_ do. Everything's at a standstill until they've…"

Virgil sighed as Scott's voice trailed off. "We need to get back to the island. We need to—" He was cut off by Scott's wristwatch signaling an incoming call.

"Scott here."

Virgil listened as Alan told Scott what was happening with their father in Los Angeles. The look of disbelief on his face, Virgil was sure, mirrored his own. He leaned back against the small trailer's lone desk as Scott asked questions Alan simply couldn't answer. But it was when Alan told them he hadn't been able to raise Gordon, John or Brains that the two eldest Tracy brothers snapped to attention.

"We're going back," Scott said. "Now."

"But what's happening there in Kansas?"

"It'll keep," Scott said. "You just get Dad well and keep everything together there. I'll let you know as soon as we do, what's going on."

"F.A.B.," Alan replied and the feed winked out.

"Scott?"

His face was set in a grim line. "Tell Shal we're outta here. Tell him to give the FBI whatever they want, however much time they want, and that all the workmen will be paid for however long it takes."

"What are you going to do?"

"_We_ are going to take a little trip."

"To the island."

"Yes, only in a much more direct way."

Virgil frowned as Scott slammed open the trailer door and loped toward the Hummer. He raced out after him, spotted Shal a few dozen yards away, and ran to him to give him the instructions. He got to the Hummer in time to jump into the passenger seat just as Scott revved the engine and peeled away. They started heading in a direction Virgil knew wasn't taking them to the airport they'd arrived at. He frowned across at his brother. "What's the action?" That was when he saw it strapped to Scott's arm. "You have an IDT?" he asked incredulously.

"And we're going to use it. Something's wrong back on the island. We've _got_ to get there faster than a jet will take us."

"I didn't even know you brought it with you."

"Risk mitigation," Scott answered grimly.

"Thank God." Virgil looked at their surroundings and recognized where precisely they were headed. The family farm in Valley Falls. What better place to come and go from without being seen? Within half an hour they'd be there…twenty minutes at the speeds Scott was hitting. Virgil quickly grabbed the seat belt and clicked it into place around his chest and lap. "What are we going to do when we get there?"

"That depends on what we find."

"Let's hope we find everything's fine," Virgil said, but both of them knew that wasn't the case. They could simply _feel_ that something was terribly wrong.

* * *

><p>The Hood in Ben's body maintained his chokehold on Gordon. They were now in the Lounge and Gordon did his best to keep stealing glances out toward the tennis court. But he could see no movement out there and truthfully didn't really know how John and Brains were anyway. There might be no chance of them waking up or they might already be awake. They may already have left the court, for all he knew, and be on their way to help him.<p>

But he couldn't count on that. At the moment, 'Ben' was using his right hand to try and break into Jeff's microcomputer behind his desk. Gordon slowly moved his right hand millimeter by millimeter across his torso toward his left wrist. If he could just hit the emergency signal, everyone wearing one of their custom-made Rolexes would know something was very, very wrong. But with only John and Brains on the island with him, how quickly could any of the others actually get there? Would they arrive in time to be of any use? Or would they arrive only to find three dead bodies and the Hood in control of International Rescue's base?

Slowly, slowly. He kept his body stiff against Ben's as the familiar and yet somehow unfamiliar voice cursed a blue streak in at least three languages that Gordon could identify. There! At last! Gordon hit the emergency button and felt his watch vibrate once. Then it vibrated again. And again and again. That would be Scott trying to call him, or maybe Alan. It could even be Tin-Tin, or maybe John or Brains. Trouble was, he couldn't raise the watch to see. So he tapped the face of it three times, waited a second, three times again, waited another second, and a final three times.

That would tell whoever was listening precisely what the score was. Now if he could just figure a way to help himself without having to wait for someone else. "You know, Hood, it'd be a lot easier for you to get access to my father's computer if you just asked me the password." The hand's grip around his throat tightened, causing him to stop breathing for a split second. He gasped a breath in. "And killing me means you'll never get in."

"So _certain_ of that, are you?" Ben's voice seethed, jerking Gordon once.

"Yep," Gordon gasped. "It's triple encrypted, IR-style."

"Give me the password."

"Let go of me first."

He felt the blade of the small machete against his neck again. "Not on your life."

"Then you aren't getting _shit_ out of me."

Quick as lightning the Hood made to whirl Gordon around so they were facing each other. But in that split second, Gordon struck, doing the only thing he could think to do. He brought his right knee up as hard as he could between Ben's legs. The momentary shock and shriek of pain as Ben doubled over allowed Gordon to twist himself away to freedom.

A blinding bright light stopped him dead in his tracks and he felt someone slam into him. Hitting the floor with a thud, Gordon struggled to breathe as the wind was knocked out of him. The light vanished, leaving black spots dancing in front of his eyes. His head fell back to the floor. Just as the last bits of consciousness seeped away, he could've sworn he heard Scott's voice.

* * *

><p>Alan emerged from the double doors into the waiting room without a clue how he was going to tell everyone about his strange conversation with Dr. McCabe. How to tell Penelope, who had, quite recently, Alan thought, just really become a member of their family. How to tell Ned Cook, who'd witnessed some pretty odd things in his lifetime, but Alan doubted anything like this. How to tell Tin-Tin, the woman he'd vowed to follow to the ends of the earth, who was most likely going to end up ruling an entire country.<p>

How to tell Kyrano who, Alan suspected, was going to be the one to tell _him_ what was really going on here. He didn't know why he thought as much, as they all turned to look at him, but whenever it came to anything strange, supernatural or in any way mystical, the only one with the depth of knowledge required to explain it to all of them was his future father-in-law. It was upon this thought that he let his eyes come to rest on the man who had been dead, alive, dead and alive more times in the last week than Alan could keep track of.

When Kyrano's eyes widened, Alan realized he was picking up his thoughts. A glance at Tin-Tin told him she was doing the same.

"Two heartbeats?" she said incredulously. "What on _Earth_?"

Kyrano closed his eyes and shook his head, sinking back into the waiting room chair he'd just risen from.

"Say what?" Ned said as Penny rushed up to Alan.

"How is he, is he all right?" the Lady asked.

It took the youngest Tracy five whole minutes to recount his conversation with McCabe as well as what he himself had seen on the computer monitor and his subsequent visit with his father.

"I must see him, Alan," Penny said.

He shook his head. "The doctor will only allow blood relatives, Penny."

"Does he know who I _am_?" she asked.

"I don't think it matters," he replied. "Since they don't know what's wrong with Dad, they're not taking any chances." Alan turned his head to look at Kyrano. "Unless _you_ can explain it," he finished.

Everyone looked at Kyrano, who slowly opened his eyes, then rose to his feet. "I must see Jeff immediately," he said quietly.

"You can't, Kyrano. Blood relatives only."

"Some things are thicker than blood," Kyrano responded quietly as Tin-Tin gave him a strange look. Alan's eyes widened, his mind picking up what Tin-Tin was hearing from her father's thoughts.

"Thicker than blood?" Penny repeated. "What's going on here? How could a man have two heartbeats, and what's your involvement?" she asked Kyrano.

"I must see him or he will die," was all Kyrano said, looking at no one but Alan. Penny turned to face him, and Alan tore his eyes from Tin-Tin's as Kyrano continued softly, "Alan, you must take me to him."

"Why?" Penelope asked, coming to stand directly in front of the Malay man. "Why do _you_ need to see Jeff? What's _wrong_ with him?"

Kyrano's mouth opened, then closed and he looked away. Not to be put off, Penelope's face flushed crimson as she moved to be within his line of sight again. "Kyrano, answer me! What have you done?"

"Penny, Kyrano hasn't done anything," Alan said.

She whirled on him. "Really. Well, if that's the case, then I'm going to see your father this instant!"

Alan moved to physically block her path. Incensed, she looked up at him with eyes blazing. "Get out of my way, Alan."

He reached out to touch her arm but she pulled back. She turned and threw Parker a look, but it was quite clear he was staying out of the whole thing. Looking back into Alan's eyes, she whispered, "How dare you?"

"Penny, listen to me, please…"

"Tin-Tin, I'm sorry, but you need to stay out of this. This is between me and the son of the man that I love."

Tin-Tin clamped her mouth shut and looked first to Alan, then her father for guidance. "Father, please," she said, moving to his side and grasping his hand. "Tell us what's happening here."

Kyrano patted his daughter's arm and pulled his hand from hers. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at each of his companions in turn, at last stopping when his eyes met those of the Lady of England. "I will try," he finally said, and they all turned to face him.

"On Tracy Island, if you'll recall, I used myself as a conduit to transfer my half-brother's spirit from the other dimension's sultan back into Belah's body. Your father," he said, nodding toward Alan, "and all the rest of you shared your life energy with me, and the transfer was a success."

"Yes, I remember," Penelope said thoughtfully. "I didn't understand what was happening at the time."

"I am sorry," Kyrano said. "Many of the things that happen I do not fully understand either."

Penny's face softened. "But what has this to do with the doctors saying Jeff has two heartbeats?"

"When Jeff got behind me and wrapped his arms around me, at some point he lost consciousness."

"Yes," Alan nodded. "We all did, all except Ben."

"That's right," Kyrano nodded. "I hadn't realized it until you explained your father's current condition, but what I believe has happened is that since Jeff was directly connected to me, and I myself was so weak at the time, he took on my life force."

You could have heard a pin drop. No one moved. All they could do was stare. Parker finally scratched his substantial nose and shuffled his feet and asked, "Kih-rahno, h'if you please, sir…come again?"

"I think this just went from the Sci-Fi channel to the Space channel," Ned remarked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I believe," Kyrano continued, "that my life force is now intertwined with Jeff's to the point where the medical sensors are actually picking up _my_ heartbeat from him."

"What?" Penny asked incredulously. "How in the world could that be possible?"

"What would they do if they checked _your_ heartbeat, though?" Alan asked.

"I believe they would find I do not have one."

"Father, do you mean that you're only alive because Mr. Tracy kept your life force going?"

Kyrano nodded. "That's what I think, my daughter. If Jeff were to die, I would die at the same moment. As long as Jeff lives, I live. And the second heartbeat is an echo of my own heart beating, heard within his body since he is my life."

"Your…_life_?" Penny repeated in a near-whisper. Her eyes had grown wide and she turned to look at Alan. "Do you actually _believe_ this?"

Alan shook his head slightly, his eyes glued to Kyrano's. "I don't know." Then he looked down at Penny. "But what if that _is_ what's happening?" Eyes moving back to Kyrano, he swallowed hard. "Can anything be done about it?"

Kyrano nodded. "The only solution is for me to…join with him again."

Penelope just stared at the older man.

"Joining is an ancient tradition that my father's mother and grandmother taught him," Tin-Tin offered, feeling the disbelief and something else she couldn't quite put name to rolling off Penny in waves. "It means…" she faltered, her eyes darting to Alan's before coming back to rest on Penny's. "It means a joining of the souls."

"Do it." They all turned to look at Ned Cook.

"Have you taken leave of your senses?" Penny asked.

"No," Ned said with a shake of his head. "But as far as I'm concerned, anything that can keep Jeff Tracy alive, even if it sounds like the most far-fetched rag story on the newsstands, should be tried."

"I agree," Alan nodded. "Kyrano, I—"

"Now wait just one minute!" Penny exclaimed, whirling on the only Tracy in the room.

"Father!" Tin-Tin cried.

When Alan looked, Kyrano's hand was clutching the front of his loose-fitting tunic directly over his heart. He stumbled back as Tin-Tin raced to ease him into a chair. Her eyes pleaded with Alan's as Kyrano's face turned ashen.

_Kyrano's having a heart attack?_ Alan thought, and a split second later it hit him. "Oh, my God, _Dad_!" He pointed at Kyrano. "Get him to Dad's room _now_!"

Alan slammed through the double doors and was in his father's room in thirty seconds. Nurses and doctors surrounded the bed and he could see the defibrillator being charged. "No!" he yelled from the doorway. They all stopped and turned to look at him as the machine beeped it was fully charged. "Stop!"

Ned and Parker appeared behind him, the former holding Kyrano under his armpits and the latter in charge of his legs. Alan stepped aside to allow them entry. "Get away from the bed," he ordered the medical staff. "Now."

"Mr. Tracy, this is your father's _life_!" Dr. McCabe protested as Alan advanced.

"No," Alan shook his head and pointed at Kyrano, who was being carried to Jeff's bed. "_This_ is his life."

"This hospital will _not_ be held responsible—" another doctor began to say.

"No, it won't. I want one nurse in here and that's it," Alan said as Ned and Parker laid Kyrano full-length next to Jeff on the bed. Taking a look at the three female nurses in the room, Alan nodded to the one who had long brunette hair tied into a bun at the nape of her neck. "You," he continued. "You stay. The rest of you _leave_. I'll sign whatever release you want me to sign."

McCabe shook his head as all those dressed in white left the room save the brunette nurse. "You've just killed your father."

Alan squared his shoulders and raised his chin defiantly. "If I have, then it's a responsibility I alone take."

Tin-Tin placed her hand on her father's forehead. Then she placed her other hand on Jeff's. "We must help them," she said, looking across the room at Alan. "They need our strength for my father to be able to make the connection."

"Jeff…" Penny said from her spot near the door. "Alan, I insist you tell the doctors to come back this instant!"

"Stay out of this, Penny."

"Stay—why you—!"

"Milady," Parker said gently.

Alan approached the near side of the bed, and along with Tin-Tin, placed one hand on his father's forehead and one on Kyrano's. He closed his eyes and within seconds could hear Tin-Tin's thoughts, and instruction to him, as clearly as if she'd been speaking the words into his ear. He smiled as he focused on finding his father's mind. Smiled, because somehow he knew this would work.

Penelope stalked out of the room with Parker hot on her heels, fully intent on forcing the doctors to return to the room. Ned exited and shut the door behind him. Whatever was going to happen in there, he was more concerned with what Penny was up to, and followed her down the hall. It wasn't hard to turn corners until he found her, using her raised and angry voice to guide him.

"—demand you go back into that room _immediately_!"

"I'm sorry, Lady Penelope, but Alan speaks for his father, and if he doesn't want life-saving measures performed, then we have to respect his wishes."

"He does _not_ speak for Jeff Tracy!" Penelope said.

"Then who does?" Ned asked, leaning against the wall behind her. She whirled on him. "You?"

"Considering I seem to be the only rational one here at the moment, then yes, Mr. Cook. Me."

Dr. McCabe left them to it and hurried out to the ER. He had notified the hospital Administrator what was happening in Jeff Tracy's room. As far as he was concerned, he'd done what he could; it was time to save the lives of people who _wanted_ to be saved. He thought Alan Tracy was the biggest fool he'd ever met.

"I don't think you _are_ the most rational person here, Lady," Ned countered, arms folded over his chest. "I think your judgment's in question."

"You insolent—"

Holding up his hands in mock self-defense, Ned chuckled. "Name calling is so beneath you. What's _really_ eating at you about this?"

"Misteh Cook, H'I would suggest you choose you're next words very carefully h'indeed."

"Oh, come on, Parker, _you_ helped me carry Kyrano in there. Now why'd you do that if you don't believe what he was saying?"

Parker shifted uncomfortably and took a step back.

"I think," Ned continued, "that you're beside yourself because Kyrano and Jeff have something you can't understand."

"I will _not _be spoken to in this manner!" she seethed, turning to walk away.

"Oh, yes, you _will_!" Ned growled, grabbing her shoulder and whirling her around.

"Hands off 'er, Cook!" Parker said, throwing his hat to the floor.

"I can _quite_ take care of _him_ without assistance," Penny said, coolly levelling her gaze at the reporter.

"Sure, you could flatten me," Ned said. "But you're never going to make it around here if you don't wise up."

"I beg your _pardon_?" Penelope said, aghast. Never before had anyone in her entire life spoken to her in such a manner. She barely knew what to think, let alone say.

"You love him, right?"

Penelope stiffened. "I shan't discuss my personal life with you, of all people," she snubbed.

"Well, here's the way I see it," Ned continued, knowing he'd have only one chance to say this and say it right. "You love Jeff Tracy so much you could hear his heartbeat on that airplane."

Penelope's eyes widened. She'd completely forgotten that's how all this had begun.

"And it was Kyrano who kept him alive on that plane."

"You don't know that!" she snapped.

Ned shrugged. "Not scientifically, no. But you saw what happened out there," he said, jerking a thumb in the vague direction of the waiting room. "And when Kyrano collapsed, how was Jeff doing? He was about to be zapped with the defibs!"

Penny glared at Ned, but he could tell by her eyes he was starting to get through to her.

"Just because we don't understand it doesn't mean it's not true," Ned said by way of a final thought. "After all," he said, a smile growing on his face as he nodded to his right, "the proof, as they say, is in the sauce."

Penny turned her head to follow his eyes. Her hand flew to her mouth and she gasped. There, walking toward her, was none other than Jeff Tracy. With Kyrano by his side.

Suddenly she was in his arms. The smell of him surrounding her, whispered words in her ear, his warm breath tickling her cheek. She hadn't believed it. Not any of it. But here he was. She turned her head just enough to meet Kyrano's eyes.

_What is it they have?_ She thought as Jeff released her and the group made their way toward the exit. _What is it Kyrano has of him that I haven't?_

But she knew the bigger question was, could she deal with it.


	9. Intimidation

_While Scott and Virgil find out just exactly what's wrong in Kansas, Alan's group discovers it wasn't a heart attack Jeff had, and Gordon realizes they are not alone on Tracy Island._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>INTIMIDATION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>When Gordon awoke, he felt something soft beneath him and heard the telltale signs of the Auto Nurse keeping track of his vitals. Sighing at finding himself in the hospital ward on Tracy Island once again, he opened his eyes and nearly jumped out of his own skin when he saw who was right in his line of sight.<p>

"Dad?" He pushed himself up on his elbows. "_Dad_!"

Jeff grinned and gratefully accepted the hug from his son. "You took quite a hit there in the lounge," he said, squeezing him hard once before gently pushing him back down to the bed.

"Ben! Oh, God, the Hood's got him!"

"It's okay, Gordon," came a familiar voice from his right.

He turned and saw Scott. "How is that okay?" he asked. "And what the hell hit me?"

"That was me," Virgil said, stepping out from behind Scott where he'd been talking with—

"Tin-Tin? _Al_! Where are John and Brains?"

"Brains is tending to John's wrists in the lounge," Penelope offered.

Gordon chuckled and suddenly everyone was talking at once. Jeff, one arm around Penelope, looked across the room just as Kyrano slipped out of the hospital ward into the hall. Frowning, he squeezed Penny and kissed the top of her head.

They'd come so close to losing everything more times than he could count in the past few months. And they'd found so much, too. But now, with what was happening in Kansas at the site of their new headquarters, which was so out of the blue he hadn't even been able to process it yet…with Tin-Tin needed so badly in the country where several of them had almost been killed…to have the son who wasn't really _his_ son now hosting their arch-enemy's body…to know what he knew about the possible connection between Ben and Brains…how Gordon had nearly died right here on the island…and he himself, the strange connection he'd found out he had with Kyrano that nearly did them both in…it was more than he could wrap his mind around; at least, all at once.

"Go after him, Jeff," she whispered into his ear.

He looked down at her as she squeezed his hand. "What's that?"

She looked into his eyes. "I think you should go after him."

He looked up at the door and then back down at a woman who would never cease to amaze and mystify in her own right. Nodding, he kissed her forehead and moved unobtrusively through the hospital ward. When he'd reached the door he turned to find Penny already engaged in a lively conversation with Parker and Ned, all past insults and conversations seemingly forgotten. He smiled faintly and left the bustling activity behind.

* * *

><p>"I don't like it."<p>

"I don't much either, but i-it's the logical thing to do, ah, John."

He shot a look at his counterpart; at the man he felt that way about whether or not it turned out to be true that he was their dimension's Benjamin. "That doesn't mean it's the _right_ thing to do."

"Well, we don't e-even know if it will work."

John flopped onto the sofa, rubbing at his now-bandaged and itching wrists. "No, we don't. I wish there was someone we could ask."

"Well, there i-isn't. A-and there's only one way to find out."

John jumped to his feet. "What, now?"

"No time like the, ah, present. I-If it will kick the Hood out of Ben once and for all, I _must_."

Sighing, John ran a hand through his hair and nodded once. "All right, Brains. They put him in the Security Ward. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Emergency Medical Technicians found her on the floor of the parking garage surrounded by strangers, one of whom had been the one to place the 911 call. The two blue-clad men knelt next to her as the crowd moved to give them room.<p>

"Ma'am, what's going on?"

"The baby," she gasped, cringing as her entire body seized. "Oh, God, it's too soon!"

"How far along are you, Ma'am?" the other EMT asked her.

"Only six months!" she sobbed.

"Starting IV."

The first EMT pulled out a blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around the woman's arm. "What's your name, Ma'am?"

But his only response was a scream as another contraction hit.

"212 over 128," the first EMT reported. "Pulse erratic." He took the oxygen mask from his partner's hand and slipped it over her head. "Let's get her in."

The second EMT nodded and helped lift the woman onto the stretcher they'd brought from the back of the ambulance. "Stand back, folks!" he barked, and they scurried out of the way.

"I'll stay in the back with her," the first one said. "We might be having a baby."

Nodding, the second one slammed the back doors of the ambulance shut, raced to the driver's seat and flipped the sirens on. "Coming in hot," he said into the vid screen mounted in the middle of the ambulance cab's ceiling. "We've got a premature birth about to happen."

"_Ten-four, routing to KK Women's and Children's._"

"Ten-four, Base."

Even over the sirens he could hear her scream and silently prayed for her safety.

The first EMT, who'd just finished checking the woman's dilation, ripped the latex glove from his hand and tossed it to the floor. "Ma'am, you're having this baby in the next few minutes."

"No!" she cried out as another contraction hit. Tears rolling down her face, she grabbed his sleeve. "Get Ned," she breathed as the contraction released her. "Ned Cook. Please!"

The EMT's eyes widened. "_The_ Ned Cook?" Off her nod he asked, "Who _are_ you?"

"Adi," she said, her face twisting as another spasm loomed. "Adiduana Mataya." The contraction hit and she screamed so loud the Tech had to cover his ears. "Ned!" she cried as the pain eased up. "_Ned_!"

* * *

><p>He was right where he expected to find him. As the door slid open, the room's lone burning candle bathed Kyrano's meditation room with barely enough light to see by. But Jeff could make out the shape of his friend seated atop a large pillow in the exact center of the room. The candle burned from a wall shelf to Jeff's right, and as he entered the door swished closed behind him. The flame flickered and went out.<p>

"Sorry," Jeff said quietly. Magically the flame returned, as though the candle were one of those trick ones that never really blew out. His eyes widened to find the Malay man standing directly in front of him. "Kyrano."

He nodded and looked up with a small smile. "Are you well?"

"Sure I am. I was wondering the same thing, though, about you."

Kyrano turned away and approached the large pillow. "I am as it is meant to be."

Jeff swallowed hard. He felt like there was something more he should say, only he couldn't figure out what. He felt like there was something more he should do, but the distance between them was more than literal; somehow it felt like there was another sort of gap that had been created. "Kyrano…" His voice trailed off as he ran a hand through his hair.

Turning his head just enough so as not to appear rude, Kyrano whispered, "Thank you."

He swallowed again, a tiny line appearing between his eyebrows. Nodding once, he replied, "No. Thank _you_."

Something wasn't right. But Jeff couldn't put his finger on just what it was and anyway, there was so much he needed to do, so many things that had to be tied up. Later. There would be time later to talk to Kyrano. Penny was wrong; he shouldn't have come after him. His friend was preoccupied, even Jeff could see that. So with one last nod, he turned and exited the room.

He didn't see Kyrano fall to his knees as the door closed behind him.

* * *

><p>Ned pulled his cell phone off its belt clip and hit the 'on' button. "Cook," he said, moving into the outer…and much quieter…waiting room of the island's hospital ward. The voice at the other end was raised…anxious. He listened to the words in disbelief. "I'm on my way!" he yelled into it before cutting the call and shoving the phone back onto its clip. He ran back into the room where everyone else was.<p>

"Someone's got to get me to Singapore, and _fast_!" he said in a high-pitched tone.

They all turned to look at him. "I can get you there," Scott offered. "What's going on?"

"It's Adi," Ned said. "She's having that baby!"

"Oh, shit," Virgil said.

Scott raised his watch to his face. "Dad, come in."

* * *

><p>"He's right here where they left him," John said as he and Brains looked at the video monitor outside the D-level cell.<p>

"Well, a-at least he hasn't escaped yet."

"Yet?" John repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. "Now, listen, Brains, I don't think you should be going in there. What if he transfers out of Ben as he's weakening? I'm not exactly looking to be his next target."

"I should go in alone," Brains said.

"My _ass_," John retorted. "We go in together or not at all." He moved to a section of the metal wall to the left of the cell door and keyed in a password. A small four-foot by four-foot panel slid to the side. He reached in and grabbed a laser pistol, then tossed one to Brains.

"We can't shoot Ben!" Brains exclaimed.

"If he tries to kill us, that's exactly what we'll do," John said, his mouth set in a firm line. "Ben wouldn't want himself used that way."

"No," Brains said, looking at the gun in his hand. "I-I guess he wouldn't."

They looked back up at the video screen again. Ben was lying on a metal bed of sorts that slid out from the wall. The indicators told the men that that the gaseous pentobarbital still filled the room, inducing a light coma that would keep him unconscious for as long as it kept dripping through the needle in his arm. John keyed in the command that immediately began venting the substance from the air inside the cell and waited until the light signaled green; the air was pure once more.

"Ready?" John asked.

Brains gulped and readied his weapon. "A-As I'll ever be, uh, John."

He keyed in the unlock sequence. Seconds later, John heard the click telling him the sequence had been accepted and the door, unlocked. He hit another button and the door slid left into the wall. The men waited and watched. Ben didn't move.

"If you as much as sag, I'm hauling you outta here," John whispered.

Brains nodded as they entered the room.

"Ben?" John said. "Ben, you awake?" There was no response. They breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the Auto Nurse in the wall. "Vitals are normal," he said, although he knew it was unnecessary since Brains was looking at the readout as well. "Now what?"

"Now we just wait and see e-either if his, ah, vitals start to change o-or if I-I start to have, ah, problems."

John nodded, his eyes fixed on Brains, while Brains' were fixed on the Auto Nurse. They were startled when a voice barked at them from the doorway. They jumped and whirled to find Ned and Scott there.

"What the _hell_ are you two doing in here?" Scott asked.

Before either could respond, John saw Brains move out the corner of his eye and turned toward him. He heard the gun clatter from Brains' hand and dropped his own to catch the thinner man as he fell against him, crying out once in a gut-wrenching sob.

Scott moved forward. "Get him out!"

"Dammit, someone get me to Singapore!" Ned bellowed.

John dragged Brains into the hall. Scott moved past them into the cell and grabbed the guns off the floor. He whirled so fast to high-tail it out of the cell that he bumped into the bed, jarring its occupant. As the door swished close he encrypted the lock and whirled to face his brother. "What the _hell_, you two going in there? You get him to the hospital after you drop Ned off at KK, you got it?"

John's eyes flashed but he was glad for the chance to _do_ something other than sit and wonder about Ben and Brains. He held Brains close and the man doubled over like he'd been sucker-punched. "Fine," he said as he steadied Brains on his feet.

"You all right?" Scott asked Brains. When the engineer nodded, Scott returned the gesture. "Take Tracy Three, I'll let Dad know you're going."

"Scott, I thought _you_ were taking me!" Ned said. "What goes on around here?"

"Change of plans," Scott said with a pointed look at his younger brother. "Now get going!"

Throwing his hands up in exasperation, Ned followed John and Brains as they rushed through the corridor. "What happened to him?" he puffed, trying to keep up with John, who was very nearly dragging Brains.

"He got too close to his other-dimensional counterpart," John explained.

"His other—what the _devil_?" Elevator doors opened for them and they were soon headed for the Tracy jet hangar. "Are you trying to tell me that Brains is Ben over _here_?"

Bringing himself fully upright, Brains looked into John's eyes, his mouth quirked into half a smile even as tears of pain leaked from beneath his long lashes. "I-It would seem so," he said, and John grinned at him. Brains leaned heavily on him as beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. "I-It would seem so."

Ned shook his head. How could things get any weirder?

* * *

><p>"I thought you were taking Ned to Singapore!"<p>

"Sorry, Father, things changed a bit. Can you believe John and Brains actually went into the cell where we're holding _Ben_?"

"They did _what_?" Jeff thundered. "And you just let them leave like that?"

"Brains was a mess, Dad. I think he got hurt a lot more than he let on when we found him and John lashed to the chain link. I figured the hospital was where he belonged, and since John was fool enough to go in with him, he should be the one to get him some help."

Jeff shook his head. "I should've known better than to think he'd gotten over it."

"Gotten over what?" Scott asked as the men headed for the elevator in hall just outside the lounge.

"Never mind."

"No, Dad, _not_ never mind. Virgil and I had to find out there are kids' bodies buried under the site we chose for Tracy Corp's new headquarters, then we get to the island to find a Tracy trying to kill another Tracy and all the while you have a heart attack but don't _really_ have a heart attack! Then Ned tells us his girlfriend's in premature labor and I find Johnny and Brains with B—"

Scott stopped as the elevator doors opened in front of them. His jaw dropped slightly as he watched his father enter. "Johnny and…Ben," he breathed, stepping in after him. The doors hissed shut. "Are you…Father, did John try something?"

"I've handled it, Scott."

"Apparently not!" Scott said in a clipped tone as his hand slammed down on the emergency stop button. The elevator screeched to a halt as Jeff gave him a warning glare. "Don't, Father. We've been through too much for you not to tell me _everything_."

Shaking his head, Jeff leaned back against the wall. "John went over there."

The four words took several seconds for Scott to decipher, but when he did, he pounded the wall with the back of his fist. "Of all the—_when_?"

"Before we left for Malaysia this last time." Jeff watched his son's face carefully. Scott was good at hiding his emotions for the most part, but one flyboy could read volumes in another flyboy's body language. "He won't do it again."

"He doesn't _have_ to, Dad! The Hood's brought Ben to _him_!"

"And you effectively put distance between the two of them, son," Jeff said, placing his hand on Scott's shoulder. "Now let's see about coming up with a solution to having the Hood here in Ben's body before your brother returns."

Scott nodded as he set the elevator in motion again.

"I want you to solve that problem. Get everyone's help if need be, but come up with a _permanent_ solution."

Scott was surprised. He would've expected his dad to want to spearhead anything having to do with Ben. Could it be possible his father was avoiding the whole situation for some reason? Maybe, Scott reasoned, it just hurt too much to see someone who looked so like their mother, nearly as much as Virgil did. But more than that, to see someone who you watched die as an infant.

He remembered. He was so young at the time, but he remembered when they came through the front door of the house with only one baby. "Where's the twin, Mom?" Scott had asked. "You said they were twins."

His mother had held him tightly and he'd felt her tears on his scalp. "He didn't make it, Scotty. But Johnny here will as long as we're careful around him." She'd pushed him away a little so she could look into his eyes. "You have to really be a big brother to him. He's been through a lot and I need you to help me keep him healthy and safe. Can you do that for me?"

Scott had nodded solemnly as his father brought the new little brother over. He was so thin and so very pale; even at five years of age Scott thought how fragile the sleeping infant looked. "I'll keep him safe, Mommy," Scott had vowed.

He'd kept that promise to Lucille to this day. But now? Now it could quite literally become a matter of life and death if John kept after Ben the way their father had described. Still, for Jeff himself not to want to head this operation up?

"Dad?" Scott said as they made their way out of the elevator and Jeff moved to the left while Scott faced the hall to the right.

Jeff stopped and turned to face him. "Yeah?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Get in touch with that FBI agent you talked to…Jaansen. I'll get back with you as soon as that's resolved."

Scott nodded. On second thought, he was quite happy his father wanted to handle _that_ rather than the Ben situation. Scott wasn't sure he could deal with hearing anything more about murdered children at the moment.

What could be done with Ben and the Hood's soul was his problem now, and he had to solve it. He walked the rest of the distance to the hospital ward. He found things had quieted down enough to where the opening of the door alerted everyone to his arrival. Gordon was up and about and everyone looked at the eldest expectantly.

"We need a plan," Scott said. "John's taken Ned Cook to Singapore, and he's taking Brains to a hospital while they're there."

"What for?" Tin-Tin asked. "Is he all right?"

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sure he's fine; I think he got knocked around more than we knew when Ben took him and John down."

"So what's the action for us, then?" Alan asked as Gordon came to stand next to him, seemingly none the worse for wear.

"And where's Jeff gotten to?" Penny asked.

"He's gone to check in with Kansas and see what the situation there's like. Gordon, you remember when Dad asked what it was you wanted to do?"

"Yeah," Gordon said. "I never did tell him."

"Well, now I'm asking."

Gordon raised his eyebrows.

"You have a choice. You either—" The door behind him slid open, and Scott turned to find Kyrano standing there. "You're just in time."

He walked into the room and Tin-Tin knew immediately something was wrong. In the same instant, both she and Alan knew what it was as his thoughts filtered very clearly into their minds.

"Oh, no," Tin-Tin whispered.

"What is it?" Ruth asked.

"The palace," Kyrano said sadly, looking into his daughter's eyes.

Alan shook his head. "How can it be gone?"

"Is…what about Badan? What about all my guards, and those loyal to me?"

"Most are dead." Kyrano's head lowered, his gaze focusing on some invisible point on the floor at Tin-Tin's feet. "It was Badan's treachery that was his undoing." He looked up, but couldn't meet his daughter's eyes. "An old friend got a message through to me which I did not see until I visited my rooms. There was an uprising at the palace by those loyal to you."

He seemed to falter. It was Alan who stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling the turmoil rolling off Kyrano in waves. The older man, who now looked ever so much more than his sixty-three years, gave him a small smile, and Alan removed his hand.

"It would appear that the actions of Badan, and subsequently of those who intended to overthrow him, destroyed over half of your palace. But that is not why so many have died."

"Then what?" Scott asked impatiently, taking a step forward.

All eyes turned to Kyrano, who seemed to shrink into himself. "I'm afraid that was my half-brother." Tin-Tin and Ruth gasped as the men's jaws dropped. "Along with _your_ brother," he finished, looking Scott in the eyes at last.

"_My_ brother?" he repeated. "Which _one_?"

"Me?" Alan asked, voice nearly a squeak.

"No, no, none of you."

"Oh, my God," Virgil said, rubbing his forehead as it all became clear. "You mean the Hood _in Ben_."

Kyrano nodded. "From what Kim Lee Seung tells me, there was a blinding flash of light which took everyone by surprise."

All those in the hospital ward knew exactly what had caused that.

"And within seconds, everyone in the immediate vicinity was dead. A biological agent was released which spread over twenty kilometers from the palace, killing or mortally infecting everyone in the circumference of its destruction."

Defeated, Kyrano leaned back against a cabinet bolted into the cement wall. "The government of Sarawak is gone, my daughter." When she approached and looked into his eyes, she saw tears threatening to spill onto his cheeks and took his hands as he continued. "The region is in an uproar. Even the Sultan of Brunei has fled after ceding it to you, Tin-Tin, leaving his country without direction, without a leader. As is Sarawak and all of Malaysia soon if someone does not step in and take control."

Tin-Tin bit her lip and turned to look at Alan. How could she leave him now? How could she leave the Tracys? What could she even _do_ if she _did_ return to the place of her birth? Could she abandon this family when there was still so much uncertainty? How would she restore order to such chaos in _two_ countries if she _did_ go back?

_If anyone can do it, Tin-Tin_, Alan thought in response to her last question, _you can._

She shook her head as those gathered watched the silent conversation, mystified and yet somehow understanding it all. _Not without you, I can't_.

He grinned and moved to her, taking her hands from her father's and turning her to face him. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he said into her hair, "You never have to do anything without me ever again." He leaned back to make sure she was looking at him. "I'm coming with you."

"Alan, you and Tin-Tin can't go alone. You don't stand a chance under those circumstances!" Scott said, the edge in his voice belying the emotional roller coaster he was on.

"Not to mention you can't get anywhere near what's left of the palace right now with a biological agent floating around," Gordon added.

"How would you restore your government?" Virgil asked. "Where would you even start?"

Tin-Tin turned back to Kyrano. "Father, is Lee Seung in Malaysia still?"

Kyrano nodded. "I have been in contact with him." He took a deep breath and swiped at his eyes. "He's in Kuala Lumpur, which is still a safe zone. He awaits your arrival."

"Just him?" Alan asked incredulously, suddenly having his own doubts about the situation.

"No," Kyrano said. "He has assembled the leaders of the Tamil rice field and rubber plantation workers. All their followers stand ready throughout the country for their sultana's orders."

"And?" Tin-Tin prompted, a smile slowly growing.

"And," Kyrano repeated, his smile matching his only child's, "all tribes of the jungle have sent representatives to meet you as well. They wait with Lee Seung."

Alan very nearly laughed. "And?"

"And," Kyrano said, his eyes beginning to twinkle, "Singapore, and all governments of the Malay Peninsula, Brunei, Song, Indonesia and Miri await your orders." He winked at his daughter. "Among others."

Virgil let out a low whistle. "You're pretty popular over there, aren't you, Tin-Tin?"

She turned and flashed him her trademark flirtatious Tin-Tin smile. It faded as she took in Scott's countenance. "Where's your father?" she asked respectfully.

"Probably down the hall in Thunderbird Five's new comm center," Scott replied, trying not to sound as terse as he knew he did.

She nodded, grabbed Alan's hand, and headed for the ward exit. Gordon quickly followed.

"You're not going down there to persuade him too?" Scott asked Kyrano.

"There is no need, Scott. Your father will make the right decision on his own."

"What _is_ the right decision?" Virgil asked, trying to soothe the beast that was his eldest brother before he went into full-blown field commander mode.

Kyrano looked at him as he rose to his feet. "Only Jeff Tracy knows," he replied, and left the ward.

"What the hell did _that_ mean?" Scott exploded as soon as the door had shut behind him. "I swear to God he's more cryptic now than before he died, came back, lost all his memories, died, came back, had his life force inside our father, almost died and then came back again!"

Virgil would've burst out laughing had the situation not been as serious as possibly losing their brother to a war-torn country. "Scott, if this is what Alan wants to do, we have to let him do it."

"It would _appear_ that _we_ don't have any choice in the matter," Scott replied bitterly, his fist just itching to hit something good and hard.

An insistent beeping cut into their conversation. Scott raised his arm and spoke into his watch. "Scott here."

"I want to see you Five's comm center immediately."

"What's this about, Father?"

"I want you in on this decision about Malaysia."

The feed winked out and Scott stared at the blank screen for a moment before his hand dropped down to his side. "Well, I'll be a—"

"Horse's ass?" Virgil offered.

Scott threw him a look as he walked quickly to the hospital ward exit. Virgil chuckled, and was about to follow him out when he heard the video screen inside the sick room start to ring. Frowning, after all, who'd be calling the vid screen in the hospital ward, Virgil retraced his steps and thumbed the screen on.

"I need you here." Voice Only was selected, so Virgil couldn't see the man…but he knew the voice.

"John?"

"Virgil?"

"Why'd you call the vid phone but with no vid, man? What's going on?"

An uncharacteristic hesitation made a knot form in Virgil's stomach. "It's Brains," he whispered. "I'd check on Ben if I were you."

"Check on _Ben_? Why? And what's wrong with Brains?"

"I…I think the Hood's…I don't think he's in Ben's body anymore."

"What?" Virgil said. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"It's…it's all my fault, he's…Virgil, please…get Kyrano!"

* * *

><p>Ben wasn't…and Brains was…and John had asked for…Kyrano? Virgil's head was spinning. Something told him to get to Ben, to validate what John had said before interrupting what was quite possibly the most important family meeting ever held on Tracy Island. A meeting which could very well bring death upon the Kyrano and Tracy families, and they all knew it as well as they knew their own names.<p>

He raced to the elevator and thanked it silently for being right there on that floor for a change. Punching in the D-level, he waited for it to drop four floors before the doors obediently opened. He was vaguely aware of the sound they made closing behind him as he sprinted along the gently curving hall. Doors lined it up and down; by far it was the most secure level of Tracy Island, but this was the first time they'd actually used it for a real prisoner.

Their own brother. More or less, Virgil reminded himself. He was, but he wasn't. Virgil sprinted down the hall until he reached the cell they'd put Ben in. He looked up at the monitor and was surprised to find Ben not only awake, but upright leaning against the wall next to the metal slab bed. He looked up into the camera and for a moment Virgil just stared at him.

He remembered the Scott from over there; how haunted he'd been, how gaunt and so unlike the Scott Virgil knew on this side of things. International Rescue existed, Tracy Island existed; they even used the same codes and passwords from the few Virgil had seen. Kyrano was a sultan, though; he didn't owe his life to the Tracys, although he knew of Jeff and his sons. Not strangers over there, but most definitely not the close near-brothers the two fathers were in _this_ dimension.

Virgil looked up at the monitor once more and finally keyed open the communication line. "Ben?"

The face looked up, full of hope. "Yes! Yes, I'm here!" He peered into the small screen inside the cell. "Virgil?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"As soon as _who_ left?"

"Virgil…the Hood. He's not here anymore."

Virgil narrowed his eyes. "How do I know for sure?"

"I—I don't know…please, I…he killed them."

Virgil's eyes widened as Ben crumpled to the floor and buried his head under his arms on his knees. He could barely make out the next words spoken.

"The Hood took me over and killed everyone!" Red-rimmed eyes looked up as if pleading for Virgil to somehow make it right. "My entire family is dead now, and then we showed up somewhere, some fancy palace or something…it's my fault."

"It's not your fault!" Virgil said vehemently, pounding the edge of his hand against the metal door. "The Hood did it, not you!"

"But he couldn't have gotten to me if I hadn't…I mean, if I'd…"

"Ben?" Virgil said, a frown creasing his brow. "Ben, what happened?"

"I…invited the sultan to Tracy Island, I thought the preparations for his visit would help take the guys' minds off everything, off…Scott…Father…you know."

Virgil nodded and whispered, "Yeah, I do."

Ben rose to his full height and came close to the camera inside the cell. "He didn't come alone."

"Oh, my God," Virgil let a puff of air escape his chest. "Ben, I…what are you going to do?"

"That depends on how long you keep me in here," Ben replied. "I've got a score to settle with that sonofabitch. Where is he?"

"That's why I'm here," Virgil said, keying in the unlock code. "I think somehow he got into Brains."

"No," Ben breathed as the door opened. He rushed into the hall, grabbed Virgil by the shoulders and said, "Brains knows _everything_ about International Rescue! If he gets all those secrets, he'll _destroy_ you!"

* * *

><p>"But Mr. Tracy, we have to transport him to a more suitable hospital! KK is for w<em>omen<em> and c_hildren_, not for male scientists with degrading mental states!"

John's jaw worked. "You can't move him. Exposing him to the outside world right now would be too dangerous. There's no _telling_ what he's capable of!"

"I'm calling your father; only he is listed as having authority over Mr. Hackenbacker should he require medical treatment."

"Fine! Call my father! But you're not letting him out of that secure room and that's _final_!" John barked. He turned on heel and stalked back to the room in question. Looking through the small one-foot-square quadruple reinforced window set horizontally centered in the top half of the door, his eyes widened as Brains, clamped down to the bed with shackles and straps, cried out in a language John recognized only too well.

"Bahasa Melayu," he breathed, leaning his forehead against the cool steel. "My God, it's true. The Hood's inside of him." He turned and slammed his back into the door, then struck the heels of his hands against it over and over and over again until it actually started to hurt and he vaguely wondered if he hadn't dented the thing.

Turning back to face the door, he looked through the window again. For just a moment he saw the pale blue of Brains' eyes return, but they were just as quickly replaced by the darker brown swirls that had started not an hour before.

"Hold on, Brains," John said, his voice sounding strangled. "Please just hold on."

* * *

><p>Jeff looked up as Kyrano entered the room they'd converted to Thunderbird Five's remote communications control room once they'd automated her. There were still a few bugs to work out, but it'd been doing pretty well in light of the fact that Brains and John had cobbled it together more than anything.<p>

It was just one of many, many things that still needed to be put right within the scope of all things Tracy. Jeff sighed. He was about to speak, to formally ask Kyrano, out of sheer respect for the man, if he gave his blessing for Tin-Tin to return to Malaysia with Alan and, not surprisingly to Jeff, with Gordon as well.

For Gordon had made it crystal clear that Tracy Corp and International Rescue be damned, he wasn't letting his little brother go to that country again without him. And he would stay until he knew Alan and Tin-Tin were safe.

Jeff knew the time for changes had come. Sure, they'd started preparations what seemed like eons ago to bring new members into the fold, but then things had gotten sidelined but good. Now it had been thrust upon them to the point where it didn't look like International Rescue would be operating any time soon; at least, not at full capacity. And then there was Tracy Corp. Staff were scattered throughout various North American locations until such time as the Kansas headquarters were finished, and now even that had hit a snag.

Jeff also suspected Kyrano would insist on going with them, and with Brains and John in Singapore, that left only Penelope and Parker, Scott, Virgil and Ruth, who was still with extended family on the mainland…and, he thought with somewhat of a chuckle, Ned Cook, if the man could be put out from NTBS any longer than he already had been.

In other words, Jeff was really out of options. Something had to give, and he'd come to the sickening but very logical conclusion that something had to be International Rescue.

It was with these somber thoughts showing plainly on his face that he opened his mouth to speak. And clamped it shut just as quickly when Virgil came barging into the room like his tail section was on fire. "What is it?" Scott snapped, hopping to his feet. He knew that look on Virgil's face better than he knew the backs of his hands. He knew it meant something was very, very wrong.

"It's…well, look." Virgil turned and the entire room seemed to emit a single audible gasp when Ben entered.

"I thought he was…" Tin-Tin began.

"…in a cell on D-level!" Alan finished for her.

"He was," Virgil said. "Don't worry, don't worry, the Hood doesn't have him anymore," Virgil said, calming Scott who'd drawn a machine pistol from the waistband of his jeans.

"How do you know that, Virgil?"

"John called me," Virgil said, feeling his mouth go completely dry. He turned to look at Kyrano. "He asked for you."

"For Kyrano?" Scott asked. When Virgil nodded, he said, "But why? What does John want with Kyrano?"

"My half-brother," Kyrano stated matter-of-factly.

Alan and Tin-Tin picked up on Kyrano's thoughts and their faces bore matching looks of horror as Virgil replied, "Yes. John thinks he got inside Brains."

"We have to do something!" the strange but somehow familiar voice of Ben said, running a hand through his hair in a manner that so mirrored John, Jeff was momentarily taken aback.

"Dad," Virgil said quietly, "the Hood took Ben over, and he…" Virgil looked at each one of them in the communications room. "He killed all of Ben's family."

"He can't have killed them _all_!" Penelope exclaimed softly.

"He did," Ben confirmed, coming to stand side-by-side with Virgil. "Every member of my family is gone over there, by my own hand." His voice sounded strangled as he looked at Jeff. "I'm the only Tracy left."

"My _God_," Scott breathed, visibly shaken.

"And the sultan?" Kyrano asked.

"Dead. Along with Tin-Tin."

Tin-Tin's eyes widened.

Ben swayed against Virgil, who quickly propped him up as Scott ran to support their brother's other side.

"You can't stay here," Virgil said. "You've got to go back to your dimension. You've been here too long!"

"Go back?" Ben said, standing up straight on his own as Scott's and Virgil's hands fell away. "Go back to what?"

They all looked at each other.

"No," Ben continued, running hand through his hair again. "I'm staying here. I'm going to help you end this thing with the Hood once and for all."

"But how?" Scott asked and Jeff nodded as the same question came to the forefront of his mind. "You're no good to anyone dead."

Ben looked this different Scott right in the eyes. "I could be."


	10. Juxtaposition

_Brains and John find out the truth about themselves even as the life of__ a newborn hangs in the balance. Will Ben have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save them all?_

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>JUXTAPOSITION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>Ned stared. He just couldn't stop looking at the tiny life in the plexiglass incubator. Straight dark hair, and lots of it. Almond-shaped eyes. Darker yellow-tanned skin. Well, he wouldn't normally have been surprised considering Adi was Singaporean, but because he knew <em>who<em> the father of this baby was, and knew _exactly_ what he looked like, all he could do was see that bastard in this innocent child.

A child who'd come _way_ too early. Adi had been so beside herself by the time the ambulance got her and the newly delivered and struggling infant to the hospital, the doctors had sedated her just to keep her from hemorrhaging or worse. Ned was assumed to be the father and as such was allowed to see the 1.7 pound baby boy. Tubes up his nose, patches on his chest to monitor oxygen, heartbeat, blood flow, lungs. His nose was no larger than Ned's pinky fingernail. His eyes were shut tightly and his tiny mouth was open just slightly as he struggled to breathe into the equally tiny oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth.

His fingers were so very small. He had not an ounce of fat on him and looked like nothing more than sticks stuck together, he was so thin. Ned felt his heart swell over the new life and then drop right into his toes as he reminded himself again just why this child existed to begin with. Half of him guiltily wished the baby hadn't survived at all. For as much as he'd realized how much he truly loved Adi, he wasn't so sure now with this small arrival how that would work. Because every single day forever, he and Adi would both be reminded of Belah Gaat, of what he had done and of the fact that this child wasn't _theirs_, but the product of a rape.

Ned reached out and laid his hand on the incubator. It wasn't the baby's fault; he knew that as surely as he knew his own name. But what if the little boy turned out to be like his father? What if he had an evil streak than ran through him the same as Ned knew ran through Gaat? What if he became the world's next arch-criminal? With Gaat's body gone, even though in some way his soul apparently wasn't, this might very well be the one and only offspring of the Hood. Would they tell him about his heritage? What would he do if he did find out? No one else but the Tracys knew, and Heaven knew _they_ could keep a secret.

His thumb rubbed along the smooth surface. Poor child. If he survived these first few days of life, and that was a big 'if' according to the neo-natal staff, he would forever be someone who would remind them of the past and of the horrors endured at the hands of the Hood. Deep down inside, Ned knew it was something he'd never be able to turn away from the truth of no matter how wonderful this boy might turn out to be as he grew to adulthood. Adi would love him. At this very moment, Ned didn't think he ever could.

For the first time since being reunited with her, since rekindling the romance they had once shared, Ned began to doubt whether he and Adi had a chance at all. And it was all because of Belah Gaat. Because of what he'd done to her. What he'd done to _them_.

"Bastard," he swore quietly, squeezing his eyes shut against the sight of the baby. "Goddamn bastard."

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, Mr. Tracy, but it's hospital policy. The police are on their way to escort Mr. Hackenbacker to the IMH." Off John's blank look, the doctor clarified, "Institute of Mental Health." John's face hardened. The physician quickly added, "They're the best at what they do, and they're right here in Singapore."<p>

"I don't care if they're just down the _hall_!" John seethed. "Did you not _listen_ when I told you he couldn't be taken out of that _room_? Did you talk to my _father_?"

"No, we haven't," the doctor replied. "I'm sorry, but I'm under strict orders from the Administrator himself to get your friend out of here pronto. He's too much a risk to our patients, Mr. Tracy. IMH will be attempting to contact your father once the transfer is complete."

John pivoted, his face grown red with the anger that boiled inside him. But it wasn't only anger, he knew, as he stalked down the hall toward Brains' room. It was fear. John Tracy was really and truly afraid of what would happen when the door opened. He couldn't tell them what was _really_ going on with Brains. They'd all want to commit _him_ next. He had to get out of earshot of everyone else and call his father.

Regardless how they'd been at odds on and off throughout his life thus far; regardless how it was true his father didn't really know him and hadn't really tried to; regardless of whatever water had passed under their bridge, there was one thing John firmly believed in with every fiber of his being: Jeff Tracy could do _anything_.

He'd know what to do and moreover, he'd actually _do_ it. One well-placed call to this hospital's administrator would take care of the problem. John just knew it. He went further down the hall past the room where Brains was, for the moment, safely locked away. He looked into each subsequent room until he happened upon one that was empty. Pushing the door open, it had barely closed behind him when his watch was in front of his face.

"Dad," he said into it.

He felt a wave of relief when Jeff appeared in the watch face. "John, how are things in Singapore?"

"Not good, Dad," John replied. "I need your help or this city isn't going to know what hit it." He saw the others crowd around his father. "Please, Dad," he said, feeling like he was ten years old again. "Just two."

Jeff nodded and advised the others he needed a moment alone. John was glad he remembered, and in his own mind replayed the scene that he had replayed so many times before when he was pissed off at his father. Because it was the one time he knew for certain he and Jeff Tracy had truly connected.

_(Flashback)_

He leaned back in the child-sized recliner his parents had bought for his room. The book in his hands was a good one: _A Wrinkle in Time_ by Madeleine L'Engle. His grandmother had purchased it for him; it was a classic, but this was the first time he'd cracked it open. Within an hour he was already a third of the way through it, and it fascinated him. Now he _knew_ why she'd chosen it for him. He was her dreamer, she said, and this book sure fit the bill for such a child.

In the back of his mind John was nervous, although he was doing a fairly good job of compartmentalizing it. Nervous because it was the first time he could remember his grandmother not being there with them. She'd gone on a short trip to see her best childhood friend, who was near death in a nursing home in Oklahoma City. It was the first time he and his brothers had ever been left alone with their own father that he could remember.

At ten, John was healthy most of the time. But once every few months he'd have bouts of weakness, dizziness and breathing problems. His heart would beat faster, or irregularly, and despite his best efforts, very often it would dissolve into a full-blown panic-induced asthma attack. His grandmother had always known exactly what to do, and within minutes would have him back to breathing regularly and nice and calmed. The one time his father had witnessed one of these attacks was back when he was far too young to remember, according to Grandma; back when Lucille Tracy had still been alive.

So as hard as he was trying _not_ to think about it, the fact was that as he read, it was always right there in his mind. When he felt his heart begin to pick up pace a bit, he tried to ignore it. When his chest started feeling tight, he brushed it off. Then the door to his bedroom opened, his father filling its frame. He looked up, startled, and felt his heart thump erratically. His face turned white. The book fell to the floor as he struggled to climb over the side of his reclined chair. He knew he had to get his head down, but didn't have the strength or wherewithal to lower the footrest.

"_John_!" his father bellowed, and he felt a wave of dizziness overtake him. Jeff rushed in and knelt next to his son, gently pushing him back up into a sitting position, and quickly lowering the footrest. Pounding feet were heard and John knew that at the very least Scott and Virgil had just arrived. "Lean forward, son," Jeff said.

"Dad, is John all right?" Scott barked…even back then he was already speaking in those clipped, authoritative tones.

"He'll be fine, Scott," Jeff replied, but his face looked worried as John glanced up at him. He caught his father's eyes and even though his vision was dancing around a bit, he felt something from them and saw something in them that he hadn't remembered seeing before.

John knew he didn't want Scott there. He always made him feel so inferior. Oh, to be sure, it wasn't something Scott did _intentionally_. It was just that he and Virgil were such jocks, as was their father, that John automatically felt inadequate around them when they were in full-out sports mode. And the times when weakling John had to allow his strapping, perfectly healthy oldest brother to 'save' him from his own body's shortcomings were simply humiliating to a ten year old boy.

Jeff gave him a small smile and laid a hand on his back. "Do you want Scott's help?" he said quietly into his ear.

"No," John said, shaking his head, causing his vision to whirl again. "Just…" He wheezed. "Just…" He wheezed again and felt his father's fingertips press into the back of his ribcage as if willing him to have the strength to speak. "Just two," he finally was able to gasp.

"Scott," Jeff said, turning his head slightly.

"Yeah, Dad?" The fifteen year old was next to him in a nanosecond.

"You and Virgil go check on Gordon and Alan for me, will you? I left them playing in the den."

Scott's mouth opened and shut and he frowned slightly, but nodded and pivoted. Soon he and Virgil were gone; John heard the door close behind them. To his surprise, Jeff took hold of his shoulders and pulled him gently into a fully upright position, then lifted him out of the chair and carried him to his bed. He deftly pulled back the quilt and top sheet with the hand that was beneath the backs of John's knees and in one swift movement had laid Johnny so gently upon his bed that he barely felt himself land there.

Jeff removed his son's slippers and placed them neatly at the foot of the bed. Then he returned and sat down on the edge of it. John's eyes followed his every movement, and before he knew it, his breathing and heart rate had returned to normal.

"How did you know what I meant?" he asked his father, truly curious.

The corners of Jeff's eyes crinkled. "You're my son," he said, smoothing a long shock of nearly-white hair out of the boy's eyes. "I always know."

"Even with me?"

Jeff grinned. "Even with you. Now, I'll go and get your medication, and I'll be right back."

On impulse, John reached out and took his father's hand. "No," he said. "I don't need it this time."

"But John—"

"No, Dad. Please…don't go. Just for a bit…stay here?"

Jeff nodded as John sat up with a smile on his face. He turned sideways and patted the bed next to him. Toeing off his shoes, Jeff sat down properly on the bed, scooting back until he was against the wall. John sat next to him, mirroring the way his father folded his hands in his lap.

"What would you like to talk about, son?"

John looked up at his father and could almost see his adventures in his eyes. "The stars," he said. "Tell me about what it's like up there, Dad."

And Jeff did. For three hours they talked. For three hours they connected. And for those three hours, no one bothered them. Jeff was all his. John had loved every minute.

That had been the last time he'd ever had 'a spell.'

_(Present)_

"Tell me, son."

John looked his father in the eyes and immediately felt that connection again. It had been so long, and yet there it was. He allowed the ghost of a smile before his brow furrowed. "It's Brains. KK is refusing to keep him here. They've called the police and he's going to be escorted to a mental hospital."

"Haven't you made them aware of the danger he poses if that door is opened?"

"Of course I have, Dad! They were going to call you, but the hospital administrator ordered Brains to be moved! I can't tell them what's really wrong with him; they just think he's gone crazy!" John ran a hand through his hair as panic threatened to set in. Just like that he felt his chest tighten. His eyes widened as his heart started pounding. "Oh, shit," he whispered.

"John?" Jeff said sternly from the watch. "John, stay with me."

"I can't…" John puffed and thought how _stupid_, how utterly _dumb_ this was, what the hell was _wrong_ with him?

"John, it's just you and me. Tell me what's got you this worked up."

He tried to focus on his father's face. He remembered being a boy, remembered looking up at his dad, and remembered the look in his eyes. He concentrated…concentrated _hard_…forcing himself to stop the shit, to not regress. He was an astronaut! He was part-time Space Monitor, part time rocket-flyer! He'd risked his life so many times to save others that he'd lost count of all the times he'd been in mortal danger.

So why now was this panicking him to such a point that he was _wheezing_?

"John, we'll fix this. We'll get the Hood out of Brains. I promise you we will."

He made himself hold his breath to the count of ten. He exhaled slowly and felt the world finally stop spinning. He took in a deep breath and held it again as he backed up and leaned against the plasterboard wall. His arms hung down at his sides, but he could still hear Jeff's voice quite clearly.

"I realize now why you and Brains went into Ben's cell," he said. "It was a stupid maneuver, but I get it, John. Unfortunately, that's what's caused this whole new mess."

"Dad…"

"Ben's okay, John. He's here with us and he's okay."

John shook his head. "But he's not _my_ Ben," he said softly, raising the watch again. "It had just started happening when Scott and Ned interrupted us."

"What had?"

"The weakness," John replied. "I didn't drag Brains into the cell because I wanted to see Ben," he continued, shaking his head, then rubbing his closed eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Brains and I went in there to prove our theory."

"Your theory?" Jeff repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"We just…I mean, I felt like…and then Brains felt it, too, and we…"

"Felt…John, what did you and Brains feel?"

John swallowed hard. Not one to talk about emotional things any more than his brothers or his father, it was hard…but he _had_ to make sure Jeff understood. He took a deep breath, and then let it all tumble forth in one go.

"We got to thinking we were each other's…you know, like you had Mom and now Penelope, and of course Alan and Gordon and then Scott and Virgil, I mean, I always wanted mine, too, but because Ben died and I lived, I was destined to be alone until I met the _real_ Ben, or sort of, and realized he wasn't the brother I was looking for, but that…" John sucked in a breath as he took in his father's widened eyes. "Brains is Ben, Dad. In this dimension _he_ is my brother."

A myriad of emotions played across Jeff's face like an expert conductor coaxing every sound from every instrument in the orchestra that was possible.

"Dad, _that's_ why we went in there. We figured it would do two things: it would prove our theory as to whether Brains and Ben were each other's counterparts in the two dimensions if Brains started to have trouble when he was in close proximity. And if that proved to be the case, Brains knew he could get the Hood to leave Ben's body by making him weak just by being near him."

"But…John…when Kyrano was transferring Gaat from the sultan's body back to his own here on the island, Ben was there and so was Brains."

"Yes, I know, I was there, too," John said, wondering why the hell his dad was bringing that up now.

"Ben never lost consciousness," Jeff reminded him. "Neither did Brains. It was only Kyrano and the six of us who did."

John shook his head, trying to make sense of his father's words.

"John, if Ben and Brains were each other's counterparts like you two think they are, both of them would've become so weakened from being in the lounge together that someone would've noticed. As far as I know, that didn't happen."

"No, I don't think it did, either. But when the Hood in Ben arrived, and we had him in the sick ward, Brains started having trouble."

"What sort of trouble?"

"He was dizzy, and then I heard a noise and…oh, shit." He looked at his father's face and paled. "It wasn't because they're each other's counterparts. It's because the Hood was putting the whammy on him." John's face went a shade whiter yet as he slid down the wall in defeat. "My God, neither of us even _thought_ of that time back on the island."

"Son, I know you want your Ben, but the two incidents where they've been in close proximity can be explained. So unless Brains and Ben have some sort of odd iron constitution where inter-dimensional coexistence is concerned, they couldn't _possibly_ be the same souls."

"What have I done?" John breathed. "Now the Hood's inside of him and I…Father, what have I _done_?"

He could almost feel his father reach out and place a hand on his shoulder. "It can be undone, son. We'll leave right now. Just do everything you can to keep Brains secure until we arrive. Okay?"

John nodded, feeling like every ounce of energy had been drained right out of him. "I guess the reason he sagged in Ben's cell was because the Hood got into him. Not because he was so close to Ben," he said dejectedly. That was when he heard something from beyond the room. He frowned and looked up toward the window in the closed door.

"John? What is it?" Jeff asked, noting the odd look on his son's face.

"I don't know," John replied. He rose to his feet and swung open the door, sending the screen on his father's watch reeling. Poking his head out into the hall, his look of curiosity soon turned to one of horror at what he saw. "No!" he cried out. "Brains!"

"John?"

"Oh, my _God, no!_" John took off at a dead run, his father's transmission all but forgotten.

"John!" Jeff called out in vain. "_John!_"

* * *

><p>Ned whirled when the door behind him slammed open. He wasn't surprised to see Brains. He <em>was<em> surprised to see the sneer on his face. "Is this my child?" he bellowed in a voice that was _nothing_ like the scientist's. In fact, it was—

"Gaat," Ned breathed in disbelief. He'd been with Adi and then the baby since they'd reached the hospital, and therefore had no idea what had been happening in the security ward. "How is that possible, you were inside _Ben_ back on Tracy Island!"

Brains moved deliberately toward the incubator. In a flash, Ned put himself in front of it. "Get out of my way, _Cook_."

"Not on your life."

"That is _my_ child, is it not?"

Ned swallowed hard and kept eye contact. "No," he finally said. "This child is mine."

"_Liar_!" he bellowed. "I happen to know you are _sterile_!"

Ned gasped as the Hood inside of Brains used one arm to knock him away. He landed on the floor in a heap. "You sonofa_bitch_!" he yelled and launched himself into Brains' legs.

Brains cried out in his own voice, "Ned!"

It was all the distraction Belah needed to jam his elbow into the back of the reporter's neck, rendering him unconscious. He rose to his feet and moved once again to the incubator where he took in the tiny life before him.

Quickly he undid the metal clasps that fused the top half of the plexiglass from the bottom and tossed the lid aside. He reached out and placed his hand over the tiny ribcage. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself a small smile as he whispered, "My son. Soon you shall know my power."

"Brains!" a voice cried from the open door. "Brains, _no_!"

John ran into the room and tackled Brains, knocking his head into the incubator's base as they fell to the floor. But his friend didn't react. In fact, Brains wasn't even conscious. A dozen policemen rushed in, grabbing first the limp form of the engineer and then attempting to pull John from the floor.

"Leave me _alone_!" he ground out, hopping to his feet. He went to the incubator as he heard several clicks and the resulting tell-tale whines of fully charged laser pistols behind him. He froze as he stared down at the baby boy. John's eyes widened as the infant's eyes opened to reveal whirling, swirling dark and light brown irises. Then the eyes closed just as quickly. "No," John breathed.

He allowed the police officers to grab him and haul him out of the room. He watched as Brains was pulled out next. They were both dragged through the halls, with handcuffs being placed on John's wrists. He was vaguely aware of being told he could call a lawyer, but John couldn't think about anything but that baby.

The baby who he was convinced now held the essence of Belah Gaat. In more ways than one.

* * *

><p>"Fa—uh, Dad…"<p>

Jeff smiled. "You know," he said quietly, turning to look behind him, "I never thought I'd hear Ben call me that."

"I want to know you're with me on this plan I have."

"What plan is that, So…" Jeff stopped himself and then smiled as he locked eyes with the man who crouched next to him. "Son," he finished.

"I've got to force the Hood to enter me again."

"I can't let you do that."

"Dad, it's the only way. There's no one left back on my Tracy Island for him to kill. As long as you get me over there as soon as he's taken possession of me, he'll be powerless."

"What about the Thunderbirds?" Jeff asked. "What about all the technology on Tracy Island? If he gets his hands on so much as a blueprint, your entire Earth could be at stake." He looked askance at Penny. "For that matter, so could ours."

"He won't," Ben said with confidence even as beads of sweat broke out on his brow. "He can't."

"Why can't he?" Penny asked, laying a hand on his arm.

"Because," Ben replied, "once I realized what was happening, that the sultan was possessed by Gaat, I set the auto-destruct sequence in motion just in case push came to shove."

"My _God_, Ben," Jeff said.

Ben looked down at his watch, then up at the father that wasn't really his. "Shove happened about an hour ago."

"You mean…you mean Tracy Island's been _destroyed_?" Penny breathed in disbelief.

"That it has," Ben said. "There isn't anything left there but rock and a lot of burning rubble if Brains' explosives were rigged right."

"If they were set like the ones on this side," Jeff said, his face hardening, "they were."

"Ben, if you return to a ruined island with no way to get back to this dimension, with no transportation out in the middle of the South Pacific, you'll be marooned."

"That's the idea, Lady Penelope," Ben said, his facial features drawing tight in mirror of Jeff's. "And that's when I take my own life."

"No," Jeff said, his voice clipped. "There will be another way."

"I am afraid," said a soft voice from behind them, "there may not be."

"Kyrano, I refuse to allow my son to sacrifice himself for the sake of that bastard."

"As long as there are live humans anywhere near wherever my half-brother's soul is, he will take them over until he gets whatever it is he wants. Eventually he could kill hundreds, if not thousands."

"Dad, listen to me," Ben said, squeezing his father's shoulder tightly. "I'm not really your son. You know that as well as I do. I don't belong in this dimension with you. And I won't last very long here."

"But to commit suicide is simply not an option," Jeff interjected.

"I don't want to go back, sir," Ben said, his voice tinged with sadness. "All those I love are gone. My twin, my brothers, my father. _Every_one I love. They're gone. There's no reason for me to go back and try to live a life there; I couldn't. I couldn't go on by myself."

"Jeff," Penelope said quietly, "it may not be my place, but I ask you to imagine what it would be like for you if all five of your sons, and Brains, Kyrano here…and Tin-Tin…and even me, Jeff…if we were all dead and gone. Would _you_ wish to carry on without all of us?"

Jeff's head whipped around to look at her, a lump rising in his throat. It took a few seconds for him to be able to speak. "No," was all he could get to come out.

"Then you understand where I'm coming from," Ben said, rising to his feet. "I'll do whatever I can, with Kyrano's help, to get him to take me. It'll be up to you two, to make sure I get through a portal, and then to _destroy_ those IDTs once and for all."

"There has to be another way," Jeff said, turning to look out the window ahead of him.

The radio crackled to life. "_This is Changi International Airport Control Tower calling Tracy Five, come in, Tracy Five_."

Jeff cleared his throat and flicked a switch in front of him. "Tracy Five requesting immediate landing authorization."

"_Ten-four, Tracy Five, you are cleared to land on Runway Two-Nine_."

"Thank you, Changi, we'll be with you in six minutes," Jeff replied and flicked the transmission switch off. He turned to find that Kyrano and Ben had left the cockpit, and Penny was staring sadly at him. "What?" he said.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For what's going to happen."

"It's _not_ going to happen," Jeff said, squaring his jaw. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Slowly he pushed the yoke forward, gripping the handles so tightly his knuckles were white from the effort. It didn't go unnoticed by Penny, who wasn't altogether certain even Jeff Tracy could stop the next events from unfolding.

* * *

><p>"I'm not saying jack until my father gets here."<p>

"Mr. Tracy, you won't have to," the female detective said. "No harm's been done, you're free to go."

He looked up at her in surprise as a male policemen reached down and unlocked the cuffs on his wrists. "What?"

"It turns out the infant whose room you were in is all right. Ned Cook came around and told us what happened."

"He did?" Off her nodded he asked, "What happened?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you know since you were there?"

"I just wanted to know what he said, that's all. That way I'll know what to expect on the evening news."

She chuckled. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."

"Where's Bra—Mr. Hackenbacker?"

"He was kept at KK in the security ward. I don't know his present condition."

John nodded. "Thanks," he said quickly as he rushed out the door. In ten minutes he was through booking and had retrieved his few possessions, which included his modified Rolex. Snapping it onto his wrist as he ran out of the police station, he raised it, not caring who saw. "Dad!" he barked, then looked around and noticed about ten people giving him odd looks. "Damn."

He scooted around the side of the station to the parking lot and ducked between two rows of parked police cars as his father's face appeared. "Dad, where are you?"

"Penny and Parker, Ben, Kyrano and I are on our way to KK," Jeff said, looking behind John. "Where are _you_?"

"Dad, we've got trouble. Brains got away from the cops when they went to transport him. He made it into Adi's baby's room."

"Adi's…baby?"

John nodded. "Dad, the Hood's _inside_ his son."

"_What?_"

"They arrested me but I guess Ned told them some cockamamie story about what happened that cleared me, I just got out of the precinct."

"How far are you from KK? We're just pulling in."

"It was about a ten-minute ride," John said. "I can get a cab over."

"Where's Brains?"

"The detective here told me he'd been put into the security ward at KK. He was unconscious, Dad, I don't even know if he's okay after the Hood left him!"

"Leave that with me."

"We've got to get that bastard out of that baby," John said, rising to his feet and heading toward the street out front.

"We will, son," Jeff said. "We will."

* * *

><p>Ned stood stoically watching the sleeping infant, once again secure inside his incubator. He knew what had happened; he knew it as soon as he'd gone to see Brains. Rubbing the back of his head, which still ached like the very devil in spite of the painkillers he'd been given, he recalled walking into the secure room as they'd released Brains. Brains, who was very much himself albeit extremely groggy.<p>

Ned was quite proud of the story he'd told them about the unknown intruder who'd come to snatch the baby, who'd felled him and then Brains and John before Ned lost consciousness. The two were his closest friends, he'd told the police, who'd come in to try and help save Ned's child from being kidnapped.

Now the Singaporean authorities were looking high and low throughout the city for a baby snatcher that didn't exist.

Well, Ned thought with a sigh, it was better than John Tracy being held for something he didn't do. And besides, he needed John back here to help him figure out what to do about their new problem.

It seemed like it should be no big deal to get rid of the Hood now that he was in a premature baby's body. A premature baby who was still fighting for his tiny life. But Ned knew, based on what had happened with Ben and Brains, that if someone took the lid off the incubator again, Gaat's soul would be on the move.

If he _wanted_ to move, that was. Ned wasn't so sure. Why the hell would Gaat invade a struggling infant's body? He was completely helpless within the baby. He could've taken John if he'd wanted, or Ned himself. He would've been fully mobile and capable of plenty of destruction. So why take his son?

_That's exactly why_, Ned thought. _Because he's his son_.

"Jesus Christ," he breathed, sinking into a nearby chair. He looked up when the door open, and jumped to his feet. "Jeff!"

"Ned, I've just left Brains, and I've talked to John. Is it true? Is Gaat inside—" Jeff stopped speaking as he stepped forward to the incubator. "Is this him?"

Nodding, Ned replied, "Yeah. And yes, it's true. At least, I'm pretty sure it is."

"Thanks for getting my son and Brains out of that mess."

Ned shrugged. "Least I could do." He looked up as Kyrano entered. "Thank God, just the man we need." Then the door opened again and Penelope walked in, followed by Ben. "Lady Penelope," Ned nodded.

Her eyes flashed at him, but then she smiled. After all, just because he'd spoken to her in the way he had while Jeff was in hospital didn't mean he didn't have a good heart…and it didn't mean he hadn't been spot on with his observations. "Mr. Cook. Always a pleasure."

He barked out a laugh. "I doubt that." He looked at Ben, who was a good three inches taller than him.

"Ben Tracy," he said, sticking out his hand.

"No offense, but I don't think I'll shake. You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth, and ran a hand through his hair. He moved to the side of the incubator. "This is the kid?"

"He's ever so small," Penny observed as Parker entered the room holding Brains up as best he could.

"John should be here in a few. Brains, you all right?"

"I-I think so, Mr., ah, Tracy."

Jeff nodded. "Kyrano, can you tell for sure if Gaat's really in that baby?"

The Malay man stepped forward and laid his hand on the incubator. He closed his eyes and less than thirty seconds passed before he flinched, eyes flying open as he jumped a full step back.

"I'll take that as a yes," Jeff said grimly. "Shit."

"How do we get him out of…Ned, what's the baby's name?"

"Adi named him Gabriel, Lady Penelope," Ned said. "And wanted to make his last name Cook," he added with disgust.

Jeff looked at him in surprise. "Kyrano, tell us how to get him out of Gabriel," he said, eyes moving to his friend's.

"I could attempt to transfer him out myself," Kyrano said. "He is weak. He's been inhabiting and controlling others' bodies for too long. His strength has waned."

"How weak?" a familiar voice asked from behind them. They turned as John entered, closing the door. "Crowded in here, damn." He looked around. "Where are all my broth—" His eyes rested on Ben. "Oh. Dad, where are the others?" he asked, walking to the other side of Brains. Parker nodded and smiled at him as he gestured that he would take over helping Brains stay upright. "You okay?" he asked the engineer.

"Am now," Brains smiled, pulling away so he could stand on his own. "Just don't go _too_ far."

"Not on your life," John vowed, then looked up at his father.

"Your brothers have all gone with Tin-Tin to Malaysia."

"Say what?" John asked, eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.

"We've got one more problem to take care of here before we go to help them," Jeff said.

"And I know how to do it," Ben stated.

"You don't look so good," John said, his arm around Brains' shoulders.

"I don't _feel_ so good," Ben confirmed with a tight smile. "Dad, we need to get this done now before I haven't got enough left in me to do what we talked about."

"Did you just call him _Dad_?" John asked.

"Never mind, John," Jeff said, then looked at Ben. "I told you, there's no way."

"No way what?"

"Ben believes," Lady Penelope said quietly to try and diffuse the situation, "if we can transfer Gaat into his body, and return him to his own dimension, that he can rid _both_ worlds of the Hood once and for all."

John released Brains and stepped forward until he was practically nose to nose with Ben. "You can't do that." He turned to his left where Jeff stood. "Father, you can't possibly support this."

"Of course I don't," Jeff said hotly.

"I am afraid that if any of us are here when the incubator is opened," Kyrano said, "we could fall victim to my half-brother's possession."

"Then I _have_ to be the one to do it!" Ben proclaimed. "I'm the only one left over there. The only one! We've already discussed this. I'm not going back to live where everyone in my family is dead."

"_Everyone_?" John said incredulously.

"I'm afraid so," Jeff said, his tone of voice low and defeated.

"Oh!" Brains exclaimed and before anyone knew what was happening, he collapsed onto his knees. At the same moment, Ben's legs buckled beneath him. John darted first to the engineer's side and then back to Ben's as everyone hovered around them.

"Brains, what's happened?" Jeff asked. "Ben?"

"I…I don't know, Mis…Mister…" Brains' voice trailed off as John came to kneel next to him. "He said…it wasn't true," Brains whispered, struggling to keep his eyes open. "Your father…said…" His head rolled forward onto John's chest.

"Brains?" John said, pulling his friend's head back. But Brains was unconscious. He looked quickly to where Ben knelt on the floor with Jeff kneeling in front of him.

"You were right."

They all turned to look up at Kyrano.

"You and Brains were right."

"We…we were?"

Kyrano nodded. "Brains and Ben. You see?"

"But back in the lounge," Jeff said, "when we were all helping you with Gaat and the sultan, Ben and Brains were both there."

Kyrano nodded. "Yes, they were. But they were standing, if I remember correctly, across the room from one another."

"That's absolutely correct," Penelope offered. "In fact, Ben was all the way outside the patio doors by the time he got to the tail end of your line, and Brains was standing with me halfway into the hall."

"I don't…" John looked at long, thick eyelashes splashing down onto pale white cheeks and set his jaw. "Brains is already weak from having had Gaat in him," John said. "We've got to get him away from Ben."

"H'I'll take 'im," Parker said. "H'I'll take goo' care of 'im."

John nodded as he stood, lifting Brains in his arms. "You make sure you do, Parker," John said, swallowing hard as he looked at the unconscious man before handing him over to Penny's butler. "That's my brother you've got there."

Ben looked up, shaking from the effort of trying to keep himself together. He smiled faintly as he watched Parker take the engineer from the room. "Let me do this, Father," he said, looking back at Jeff. "Please."

A noise caught their attention. All eyes turned to the incubator. Jeff rose to his feet as Ned came to stand at the head of it. "He's moving around. He's never moved around like that before."

"It's Gaat," John said. He looked at Jeff's stricken face, and then at Ben. He reached out toward the man that would have, under different circumstances, been his very own twin brother.

Ben took it and allowed John to pull him to his feet, although he leaned heavily against his arm. "My John is gone," he said. "I killed him with my own hands."

"It was Gaat!" Jeff barked.

"It doesn't matter!" Ben barked back, squeezing his eyes shut. John's arm came around him. "The fact is he's _dead_." He opened his eyes and looked into John's crystal clear blue ones. "I'd give anything to have him back, or even to be able to stay here with all of you," he said softly, moisture pooling in his eyes. "But I can't. I don't belong here." He struggled, trembling, to stand his full height on his own. John understood and released him from his grip.

Ben laid a hand on Jeff's shoulder. "You are as much Jeff Tracy as my father was," he said. "And I know damn well my own father would have done anything and everything in his power to rid the world of the Hood; especially if the Hood had killed his sons."

Jeff looked down at the incubator for a few seconds. Penelope could feel and hear his heartbeat pick up. In wonder, she approached his other side and reached out for his hand. "Jeff," she said softly. He looked sideways at her and she was surprised to see unshed tears in his eyes. She fought to control her own emotions. "I don't know that we've any other choice," she said, squeezing his hand.

A few moments passed. "Dad," Ben said, his voice much stronger now that Brains had been gone from the room for a few minutes, "I'll ask you to follow through with what we talked about on the plane."

Jeff rose to his full height and looked up into Ben's eyes. "I can't let this happen. I just..._can't_."

There was another noise from the incubator and a simultaneous gasp from Kyrano. "He grows stronger," the man whispered in disbelief as the infant reached up and pulled the oxygen mask from his mouth and nose.

"How can he _do_ that?" Ned breathed. "That baby's barely _alive_!"

"With Gaat inside him, he'll be able to do anything as long as he's got the energy from inside," John said, and Jeff looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"Are you saying he could…make this child…walk?"

"He couldn't possibly!" Penny exclaimed. "Why, a full-term baby's legs aren't capable of supporting ambulation, let alone a premature one's!"

"It's hard to say," Kyrano chimed in. "But I don't think we should take the chance," he finished as the baby's eyes snapped open and its tiny fist started banging on the inside of the incubator.

"Jesus Christ," Jeff breathed.

"Dad, I'm doing this," Ben said. He turned to John. "You know it's the right thing to do, Johnny. If you're anything like _my_ John, and I think you are, you'd do the same."

John looked at his father, whose face had become unreadable.

"John, I want you to take the IDT," Ben said, leaving no room for argument. "You get me back to my own dimension and then you _destroy_ that goddamn thing along with your other one so he can _never_ come back here."

Slowly Jeff removed the IDT from his arm. He looked at it a moment, then looked up at Ben. "I can't send my son out knowing he'll kill himself." He swallowed hard as Penelope's fingertips lightly brushed his arm.

"I can do it, Father."

Jeff's eyes widened as he looked up at his middle son.

"He's _my_ twin…in some twisted way. That's why I need to be the one to do this."

Jeff looked back down at the IDT. "I wish these goddamn things had never existed."

"So do we all," Penny said.

Jeff hesitated and then handed it across to John. He turned slightly, grabbed Ben, and hugged him so tight John thought he might just crush him to death. "I may never have known you," Jeff said gruffly into Ben's shoulder. "But I couldn't be more proud of you." He pulled back and looked into Ben's eyes. "Son," he added.

Ben smiled. "I'll see to it he never hurts any of you ever again," Ben said. "You have my word."

"John?" Jeff said, stopping to place a hand on his _real_ son's shoulder.

"I got it, Dad."

Jeff looked between the two boys, knowing it was the last time he'd ever see Benjamin Tracy and John Tracy standing together. Then he took Penelope's hand. "We'll just…go check on Adi." He looked at Ned. "You coming?"

"In a few," Ned said, his eyes glued to Ben.

Jeff nodded and glanced back at Ben once more before he and Penny left the room.

John steeled his resolve as he strapped the IDT on. "How do we get the Hood into Ben?"

"Ben must remove the top of the incubator," Kyrano said, taking a step back and turning his eyes to the other-dimensional Tracy's. "Then you must lay your hand over his chest and repeat exactly what I transmit to you."

"Transmit?" Ben said, fighting against the exhaustion permeating every cell of his body.

"You will hear the words within your mind," Kyrano explained.

Ben nodded and took a deep breath as John moved back several steps until he was standing even with Kyrano. One by one he flipped the metal clasps down, releasing all six of them in less than twenty seconds. He looked back at Kyrano and John. "I really wish I'd been over here, too," he said. "I would've liked having you as my brother."

John felt a pang in his chest, but his face remained stoic and he nodded just once. Soon the lid of the incubator was lying on the floor. Baby Gabriel's eyes popped open and his face puckered. His mouth opened wide and he let out a wail that caused the three men to cover their ears in pain.

"Quickly!" Kyrano gasped.

Now mostly holding himself up using the side of the incubator, Ben faltered when he moved a hand to rest on Gabriel's chest and stomach. Without even thinking, John rushed forward and grabbed him under his armpits.

"John, no! Don't touch him!" Kyrano warned.

"I'm...okay," Ben said, and John rejoined Kyrano.

The door behind them banged open. Jeff flew into the room. "Ned!"

They all jumped and whirled on him. "What?" Ned exclaimed.

"It's Adi," Jeff said, looking stricken. Without another word, he and Ned ran from the room.

"That's enough," Ben said, turning and putting his hand back onto Gabriel. "He's taken enough lives. We're going to end this _now_."

Ben closed his eyes as did Kyrano. John watched as first the older man's lips began to move, then the younger one's. There was no sound save for the baby's cries. John quickly keyed in the code that would open a portal from the hospital room directly to Tracy Island of the other dimension. His finger hovered over the firing mechanism.

_My brother's going to kill himself._

A yellowish glow appeared around the baby, who had stopped crying and seemed to have fallen asleep.

_My __half-brother will be gone._

The glow traveled up Ben's arms and he faltered, but managed to stay on his feet.

_There has to be another way._

Up and up his arms until it reached his shoulders, then began to spread downward into his chest.

_I should be the one doing this, not a son of Jeff Tracy._

Ben roared, causing John to nearly jump out of his skin. Kyrano's eyes snapped open. "Now!"

John's finger hit the button on the IDT and the deafening whine of the portal assaulted their senses. The room was filled with a blinding white light. John struggled to see Ben and was startled when he suddenly appeared right in front of him. Falling to his knees, Ben grabbed John's shins, wheezing and gasping for breath.

Kyrano reached down to grab Ben, but John stopped him. "No," he said, and the Malay man stepped back. "I'll take him."

John crouched down, hefted Ben into a fireman's carry, and rose to his feet, adjusting the man slightly on his shoulder. "Kyrano, if…something happens…" He couldn't find the words.

Laying a hand briefly on John's arm, Kyrano nodded once. John turned and walked into the portal. As it began to collapse on itself, a look of horror filled Kyrano's face as Ben's head came up behind John's back and sneered at him. Without a second thought, Kyrano sprinted into the portal just as it collapsed.


	11. Alienation

_The Tracys and Tin-Tin find out just how difficult it__'s going to be to bring Malaysia…and indeed the world…together before it's destroyed. A surprising connection still exists as friends and brothers are reunited, and Penelope makes a discovery of her own._

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today._

* * *

><p><strong>ALIENATION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>"My God, Tin-Tin," Alan breathed as they stood at the top of the mobile stairs. The jets purred into silence as the throng of people waited expectantly. "What is all this? Who are these people?"<p>

She looked across the sea of faces, of bodies all so different from one another. There were Caucasians, Far Easterners. There were those from the Middle East and dark-skinned warriors wearing very nearly nothing at all. The painted and tattooed Iban tribesman, the simply and poorly-dressed Tamil. Business suits and dresses to grass skirts and denim jeans. Every manner, type and race of human being seemed to be represented at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

"I'm not sure who they are," she said. "There's Kim Lee Seung!"

A Chinese man who was thin and wiry with brightly sparkling brown eyes walked up the steps as Alan's brothers gathered behind them. When he reached the top he got down on his knees and bowed to Tin-Tin, his nose touching the bulkhead of the jet just in front of her toes.

"Kim Lee Seung," she breathed. "Rise, my father's old friend."

A gasp from next to her made Tin-Tin look up, only to find that each and every person down on the tarmac had bowed in imitation of the man before her. "Tin-Tin, are these people all…from Sarawak?"

"No," she said. "Lee Seung, what is all this?"

The man rose to his feet and turned to look at the respectful audience who had waited so long for her arrival. He then looked to Alan, the men standing behind him, and finally Tin-Tin. "These are your loyal subjects, Sultana. They have vowed their peoples' allegiance to you if you will fight those who wish to take Malaysia by force."

Scott leaned forward, his head between Alan's and Tin-Tin's, and let out a low whistle. "Are you saying these people are from all parts of Malaysia?" he asked.

"No," Lee Seung replied with a slow shake of his head. "These people are from many countries. Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, India, the Philippines, Cambodia, Mongolia. There are African nations represented. Iran and Iraq."

"I don't understand," Tin-Tin said. "I mean, I can understand all the states of Malaysia, and even Indonesia and Brunei. But the Philippines? Africa? What does this mean?"

"You do not know," Lee Seung said, looking at each of them, who in turn all exchanged confused looks.

"Know what?" Gordon asked as Virgil shrugged.

"The world, Sultana," the Chinaman said with downcast eyes and a tinge of sadness to his voice, "is at war."

* * *

><p>"I don't believe it," Virgil said.<p>

"Tune to NTBS," Lee Seung told them as he flipped on the television in the Rainbow penthouse suite they occupied. On the top floor of the Alpha Genesis Hotel, Tin-Tin and four of Jeff's five sons sat with water or coffee as the television flickered to life.

Across the bottom of the screen flashed the words, NTBS NEWS FLASH! NTBS NEWS FLASH! Instead of seeing Ned Cook's visage, it was reporter Eddie Kerr who graced the screen. "_…and Gentlemen, I cannot believe I'm telling you this. I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime. But NTBS had learned that Japan, the Korean nations, all Russian states, Vietnam and seven nations in Africa have just declared war on the world._"

Scott's jaw dropped. Tin-Tin grasped Alan's hand on one side and Virgil's on the other. Gordon leaned forward in his chair, disbelief as evident on his face as it was on those of his brothers.

"_I repeat, Ladies and Gentlemen, war has just been declared on Europe, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and North and South America. We are at war. I repeat, the world is now at war._"

"This can't be happening," Tin-Tin whispered, turning her face to Alan's. "Please tell me this isn't happening."

He just shook his head, squeezing her hand as he looked up to watch Lee Seung turn the TV off. "When did this happen?"

"Only just," Lee Seung replied, seating himself at the opposite end of the table from Tin-Tin. "When word came from Malaysia that your palace had been decimated, and that the sultan of Brunei had fled, Japan moved in, only to find my own countrymen defending your borders."

"On the north we meet Mongolia," Tin-Tin explained quickly.

"Precisely, and the Mongols don't want the Japanese that close to their borders," Lee Seung replied.

"What does the World President have to say about all this?" Scott asked.

"Those countries which have allied to fight the West and its supporters have seceded from the World Economic Union," Lee Seung replied. He looked directly at Tin-Tin. "All the nations who remain under the unification of the WEU and the World President look to you now, Sultana."

"I…I don't understand."

There was a knock at the suite door. Lee Seung rose and crossed through into the outer sitting room. Alan turned to Tin-Tin. "Is he trying to say they want _you_ to lead the war?"

"I can't fathom it," Tin-Tin replied. "After all, what would the World President say?"

"He'd say," came a voice from the doorway, and all eyes turned to look upon the man it belonged to, "that he needs your help."

Tin-Tin and the Tracys rose to their feet. "President Gomela?" Gordon said uncertainly.

Lee Seung gestured for the president to enter the room. Every face was filled with a myriad of emotions from shock to disbelief; from awe to confusion. Gomela crossed to the table and seated himself where Lee Seung had been, then splayed out his hands for them to all do the same.

Scott and Virgil exchanged frowns; Gordon's and Alan's eyes were wide. Tin-Tin moved to the chair at the president's left. "But I don't understand what I can do. I no longer have my palace or my guards," she explained. "I've been out of the country and don't even know what's going on."

"Then I'll explain it to you, but first I want to know who your companions are."

She nodded and looked at each man in turn. "These are the Tracys, Mr. President."

"Tracy…as in Jeff Tracy?"

She nodded. "Four of his sons. Alan is here next to Lee Seung." The youngest of them nodded, rising halfway out of his chair as the president nodded a greeting in return. "Next to him is Virgil, and then Scott and Gordon."

"It's an honor to meet you all. Your father's historic mission to the Moon is something I'll never forget."

"Thank you, sir," Scott spoke for them all. "But right now we're a little more concerned with Earth than the Moon."

"As well you should be, son," the president replied. He bit his lip and then rose to his feet and started to pace. "Several of the countries who have formally seceded from the union have been talking of doing it for some time now."

"But why?" Alan interjected. "The world's been at peace for so long."

"It might seem that way to a youngster like yourself," Gomela smiled wanly, "but in truth we've only been at peace for a decade, and much of that was nothing more than a façade."

"But what's this to do with the throne of Sarawak?" Tin-Tin asked.

"Everything," Gomela said, returning to his seat. He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and looked directly into her eyes. "When word spread that Gaat had died, when everyone realized Gaat was the Hood, and it was therefore the Hood who'd kept such tight control over this region since stealing the throne from your family, there was mass hysteria."

"I don't get it," Virgil said. "Wouldn't Gaat's death have been a _positive_ thing for this part of the world?"

"For this part?" Gomela nodded. "Yes. But for the countries who never really wanted to be part of the union to begin with, Malaysia was nothing more than a front. You see, Sultana, while Malaysia appeared to be neutral, and proclaimed such with every breath it took, secretly Gaat was supplying all the nations who've now declared war upon the union with weapons, training, military supplies…in short, Gaat was at the helm of the entire secession movement. He _wanted_ the world to be at war."

"I get it," Gordon said. "Now that he's dead, the nations he was working with decided it was time to act before Tin-Tin came back to set things straight here."

"That's exactly what happened," the president confirmed.

"This war," Tin-Tin breathed, "is all my uncle's doing." She turned stricken eyes to the men who'd become her family over the past many years. "Now that he's dead…"

"Tin-Tin, what are you thinking?" Alan asked, rising and coming to crouch next to her.

"I have to put things right," she said, touching the side of his face with the back of her hand. "Don't you see? This is my family's fault. It's _my_ uncle who set these wheels in motion, who made Malaysia two-faced, who prompted this war for as long as he held power."

Tin-Tin rose to her feet and began pacing between the doorway and the table. All eyes were on her. "He planned this. He planned _all_ of this, and he wanted to use-" She stopped short and one by one each of the Tracy men knew exactly what she'd been about to say. "Now that he's gone, now that the throne has returned to the Kyranos, they're attacking."

"They are," Gomela confirmed, rubbing the heel of his hand into his forehead. "Dammit, I don't know which way to turn anymore. Everyone's military is raring to go; it's been so long since we've had a war on this planet, they're all dying to take the first shot. The Chinese sent the Japanese fleeing from the border between Mongolia and Sarawak, but my advisors are pretty sure that isn't the end of it."

The president stood and moved across the room to Tin-Tin. He took her tiny hands in his as her face turned up to his. "All these nations that are represented here in Kuala Lumpur today are here either of their own accord or at my behest."

"But I still don't understand, Mr. President," she whispered, squeezing his hands. "You hold the power of every country who's remained in the union. What can a sultana with absolutely no army left, no palace, no _country_ hardly…do?"

"China is, at the moment, our greatest ally in this neck of the woods," Gomela replied. "But the only reason they've stayed with the union rather than become secessionists is because of Lee Seung's friendship with your father and his influence on the countries of China and Mongolia. If we lose China, there's an eighty-five percent chance, I'm told, that this entire part of the world will come under Chinese rule."

"And if that happens?" Alan asked, coming to stand next to Tin-Tin.

"Their armies are massive and well-trained. Their equipment rivals that even of International Rescue thanks to the Hood," Gomela replied. Alan and his brothers exchanged glances. "They've got enough nuclear weapons hidden in that country to decimate this entire planet."

"Nuclear weapons were outlawed when the union came to be!" Virgil exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"My uncle," Tin-Tin said sadly. "This is all his doing."

"Yes," Gomela confirmed. "Deep in the jungles of your home country are facilities which have never stopped making that kind of weaponry. And now every single secessionist country has thousands of these warheads just waiting for someone to make them fly."

"My God, we're on the verge of a complete Armageddon," Gordon said from the table.

"Very nearly, son," Gomela nodded. "Very nearly."

Tin-Tin turned to Lee Seung. "You have been my father's friend for many years." The man nodded. "What will it take to keep China with us? What will it take to stop this?"

"They insist that you and your father lead them to victory," was the simple reply.

"My…father?"

Lee Seung nodded. "I was disappointed to find him not with you, Sultana. They insist that it be _both_ Kyranos."

"But my father abdicated when he—" Tin-Tin closed her eyes at the painful memories. Alan quickly put his arm around her. "He abdicated for health reasons."

"I understand, but I told him of this when I spoke with him. He knew that his presence was needed to bolster support for China and all the other countries of the union. Why did he not come with you?"

"He had…" Tin-Tin faltered as the Tracys gathered around her.

"He had to help our father with something important," Scott offered. "But we can get hold of him mighty quick."

"I would suggest that you do just that," the World President said. "I would also suggest that you, Sultana, come up with a way to stop this war."

"Me?" Tin-Tin squeaked. "But…how?"

"I don't know," Gomela replied honestly. "But I do know that none of the secessionist countries will listen to me. They know who you are; they know you're related to Gaat. You and your father may be the only chance this planet has of _not_ becoming a nuclear wasteland." Gomela shook his head as he moved toward the penthouse door. He stopped with his hand on the knob and turned back to look at them all. "Lee Seung knows how to get hold of me. I've got to prepare the union to fight." He turned his back to them and opened the door. "In case you don't succeed."

Tin-Tin leaned into Alan, who wrapped his arms around her and held her there in front of everyone. Gordon looked at Virgil, who turned his eyes to _his_ leader, Scott. Scott in turn met his baby brother's concerned blue irises before looking to Lee Seung.

"I think," Scott said, "we need to have some time alone. We'll get in contact with Tin-Tin's father, and mine, and let you know what the plan is as soon as we can."

Lee Seung nodded. "Please give Meor my regards," he said, "and please do not be too long. All that needs to happen is one country's leader pushes a button."

"We understand," Virgil said, rising and walking with Lee Seung to the penthouse door. "Thank you." Lee Seung bowed and had soon disappeared down the elevator. Virgil closed the door and turned to face the rest of them. "Jesus Christ," he breathed. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to do just what I said we're going to do," Scott replied. And with that, he raised his wristwatch to his face.

* * *

><p>"I'm so sorry, Ned," Penelope said as she lay a hand on the reporter's back.<p>

Bowed over the bed where his one-time girlfriend and lifetime love had died not thirty minutes earlier, Ned Cook did something he rarely ever did: he wept.

Penny turned to look at the doorway. Jeff had refused to come in and she had a good idea why. He waited out in the hall while she did her best, stiff upper lip and all, to comfort when truly she hadn't a clue how to do so for this relative stranger. She had always been at best, at odds with the man before her…at worst, ready to kill him in a heartbeat. And yet, just as Jeff had so many years before, he'd lost the woman he loved, and it seemed to have broken him completely.

"It's all his fault," came the whispered accusation from the sheets covering Adi's body. "It's all goddamn Gaat's fault."

"Yes," Penny acknowledged. "Yet another life lost because of his treachery."

"Tell me John and Ben got rid of him," he said with a hiccough, turning red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes her way. "Tell me that bastard sonofabitch is gone for good."

She patted his shoulder. "I'll find out for you, Ned. With every fiber of my being, I pray they met with success."

* * *

><p>He was doing everything he could not to think of what was happening inside that hospital room. Pacing the floor up and down, up and down, over and over, wishing Penny would hurry the hell up, wishing the doctors and nurses had been able to save Adiduana Mataya's life, that she hadn't…he closed his eyes and stopped dead in his tracks. That she hadn't hemorrhaged to death like Lucille had.<p>

It was like history repeating, only this time for someone other than him. Adi hadn't lived long enough to even hold her newborn son. Neither had Lucille. Adi had never gotten to see his eyes. Neither had Lucille. Adi would never see her boy grow into a man. Lucille didn't either.

Grinding his teeth against the memories that were far too close to the surface, Jeff tensed as his watch chimed an incoming call. Slowly he raised it, only to find his eldest son's visage before him. "Scott?"

"Father, I need you to get Kyrano here and I mean on the double."

"Kyrano? Why? What's going on?"

"You don't know either?"

Jeff frowned. "Know what?"

"Jeff?" Penelope asked as she approached. "What is it?"

He shook his head, never taking his eyes from Scott's. "What's happened?"

"There isn't time to explain. Suffice it to say that if you don't get Kyrano here faster than Thunderbird 1 can even fly, we're going to have a nuclear war on our hands."

"Nuclear _war_?" Penelope repeated, standing on tiptoe to see his face. "In Malaysia?"

"The whole world, Penelope," Scott replied grimly. "And I mean every country."

"Scott, why do you need Kyrano there?"

"It's a long story, Father. Was he successful helping Ben get rid of the Hood?"

Jeff's head snapped up. He'd been so involved in wallowing in Ned's current and his past pain that he'd completely forgotten his best friend, his son and Ben. "My God, I don't know. Come on, Penny!" With that he grabbed her hand and they raced for the elevator.

"Father, you've got to get him here. Do you have an IDT?"

"ID…_no_!" Jeff said vehemently as they boarded the elevator and the doors swished closed behind them. "We're _not_ using those goddamn things _ever again_."

"Dad, I know…trust me, I know. But even if Thunderbird 1 was ready to go, it still wouldn't be fast enough according to the World President."

"The World _President_ was there?"

Scott nodded. "And Kyrano's friend Kim Lee Seung. They need Kyrano _and_ Tin-Tin to try and help stop this from going south, and quick."

"We're on our way to find out how they did. I'll be in touch, Scott."

"Hurry, Father," Scott said, and Jeff could hear the near-begging in his voice. "Hurry."

* * *

><p>Jeff and Penny burst into baby Gabriel's room only to find everything intact. The infant's incubator was together and the life sign indicators above advised he was quite stable. The room seemed to be in perfect order and just as Jeff and Penny were about to ask each other where everyone was, a nurse entered the room with a handheld computer filer.<p>

"I'm sorry, nobody's allowed in here," she said, stopping halfway between them and the incubator. "Who are you?"

"Ned Cook's friends," Penny answered quickly. "Jeff Tracy?" she finished, pointing at her companion.

"Oh! Mr. Tracy, and Lady Creighton-Ward! I'm so very sorry, yes, we were told you were allowed in. Pardon me, while I just grab this chip and replace it with a blank one." She was flustered, a situation which normally would mildly amuse the Brit and the American, but right now didn't even register with them.

The nurse quickly did as she said she would and was soon out of their hair. "Jeff, where are Kyrano and John?" Penelope asked as soon as the door closed behind the woman.

"I don't know," he breathed. "They weren't supposed to go through the portal; only Ben was."

"Where can they have gone?" she wondered aloud.

Jeff raised his watch to his face. "John, come in." He looked into Penny's eyes. "John, it's your father, answer."

"Oh, no," Penelope breathed. "He went over there. Didn't he."

Jeff squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again. "John, please, you've got to answer me!" He let his arm fall back to his side, then got an idea and moved up to the incubator. He took the top off and looked at the baby. "He seems normal enough."

"Then perhaps they did indeed find success in removing Gaat's soul."

"But to where?" Jeff wondered aloud as he replaced the incubator lid. That's when something glinted off the sun's rays coming in the room's lone window, catching him in the eyes and making him squint. "What was that?"

"What was what, Jeff?"

Craning his neck down and around the side of the incubator, he lowered himself to one knee and looked under the wall register. Within seconds he'd grabbed something and was back on his feet. When Penny saw what it was, she gasped.

"The IDT," she said. "Why is it _here_?"

Jeff keyed a few commands into the readout of the arm unit. "It fired thirty-two minutes ago, destination…" he paused as he keyed another command in. "Destination Tracy Island."

"Ours? Or Ben's?"

"Ben's, from the look of this readout."

"Mr. Tracy?"

Jeff and Penny turned to find Parker and Brains standing in the doorway.

"Milady, h'our young friend 'ere insists 'e's well enough to move about. I 'ope Mistah John isn't right cross wiv me."

"Perhaps if he were here we could ask him," she said, then caught Jeff's eye.

"Not…not here?" Brains blinked. He was pale, but seemed to be doing all right all things considered. "Where is he?"

Jeff held up the IDT. "John was supposed to fire this off after Kyrano helped get Gaat's soul out of Gabriel and into Ben. Ben was going to go through the portal to his Tracy Island, which he destroyed before Gaat brought him here."

"To wot end, then, sir?" Parker asked, eyebrows raised.

"He was going to…"

Brains' eyes grew wider still. "Kill himself," he finished for Jeff. When the older man nodded, Brains shook his head. "But i-if that's the case, where a-are John and, ah, Kyrano?"

"Could Gaat or Ben have forced them to go with him?" Penny asked.

"Without the IDT?" Jeff shook his head. "If Gaat wanted to get back, he'd have had to take it with him. I can't imagine if he was in control he would've just left it here."

"Perhaps, uh, Mr. Tracy, i-it's a message."

"A message, Brains?"

The scientist nodded. "Maybe, ah, John left it here on purpose. So that you'd, ah, find it."

Jeff looked the young man in the eyes, then immediately secured the device to his arm. "So we'd go after him."

"We?"

"Yes, Penny. We. Brains and I need to go get him and Kyrano back. You get on the horn to Scott and tell him we'll have Kyrano there before he can blink twice."

"Jeff, you're not _leaving_ us here! We'll go with you; you may require assistance!"

"No, Penny," Jeff shook his head. "This is something Brains and I need to do alone."

"But why?" she countered. "Jeff Tracy, you do _not_ need to go things alone!"

"I'm not, I'm taking Brains." His face softened as he looked into her eyes. "Penny, don't you see?"

She looked back and forth between him and Brains. "Because you're John's other half," she finally said to Brains, who nodded. "And you," she said to Jeff. "Are you telling me Kyrano is _your_ other half?" she asked. "Rather than me?"

He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, Penny. But I _do_ know that I will not put you or Parker in danger, not one more time. There's been enough death because of Belah Gaat. It's _my_ family he was after, and it's _my_ family who'll stop him."

"Kyrano's not part of your family," she said, then quickly realized her mistake as he shot her a look. "Jeff, I-I didn't mean—"

She was cut off when Jeff fired the mechanism. The IDT ripped open a portal, which blinded and deafened them. In the blink of an eye, Jeff and Brains were gone. Penny rubbed the spots out of her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Oops, milady?"

"A very definite oops, Parker." She looked toward where the portal had just vanished. "A very definite _big_ oops."

* * *

><p>"That's all I can tell you, Tin-Tin. Penelope said Dad and Brains just went through the portal to find John and your father."<p>

"If only we had an IDT!" Tin-Tin proclaimed.

"We, uh," Scott looked askance at Virgil. "We do, Tin-Tin."

Her eyes widened. "We do?" she repeated.

"What gives?" Gordon asked.

Scott rolled the sleeve on his jacket up. "I never took it off," he said, displaying the metal device for all to see. "It's how Virg and I got to the island so fast after Ben came over with the Hood in him."

"Yeah, it's how Virgil knocked the shit out of me," Gordon added, shooting a look at his older brother, who smiled apologetically.

"Then we must go after them," Tin-Tin said. "Our fathers may need our help!"

"Tin-Tin, you're not going over there," Alan said sternly.

"Don't you try to tell me what to do, Alan Tracy," she retorted. "I happen to be a sultana."

"And I happen to be the man you're going to marry, so that makes _me_ an almost-sultan."

"Like hell it does!"

"Excuse me, _children_," Gordon said, exaggerating every syllable.

"I am _not_—" Alan began to shout, then clamped his mouth shut. "I don't want Tin-Tin put in danger again." When she turned and gave him a withering glare, he said, "Don't you see, Tin-Tin? As it is, we need your father. But if something happens and he doesn't return, you're all this planet has left. You _must_ stay safe."

"Alan's right," Scott said, drawing a look of surprise from all his brothers. "And that means, Al, that you and Gordo are staying here and making sure nothing happens to Tin-Tin. If push comes to shove, you do whatever it takes to stop this war, the three of you. Am I clear?"

"Damn you, Scott Tracy," she seethed.

"You can damn me all you want once you're in charge of the world," Scott said, reaching out and chucking at her chin with his index finger. "But for right now, Virg and I are going to hit Tracy Island on the other side and see if we can't make heads or tails of what's going on over there."

Noticing the look on Virgil's face, Gordon said to him, "I think you've just been voluntold."

Virgil shrugged and grabbed Scott's hand. "Whenever you're ready," he said.

"But you're not even armed!" Tin-Tin said. "If you won't let me go with you, then at the very least, take my keris." She reached down and lifted up her pantleg, then quickly unstrapped something from her leg. "It holds centuries of my family's power," she said. "If you run out of options, this will see you through."

With those words, she handed it to Virgil, who reverently took the eight-inch long wavy-bladed knife and lashed it to his belt. "Thanks, Tin-Tin."

"Scott?"

"Yeah, Al?"

"Come back safely."

"_We_ will," Virgil said, making a face at him.

Scott keyed in the necessary coordinates and patterns and hit the firing mechanism. Seconds later a portal appeared and he and Virgil walked through it hand-in-hand. Moments after that, it disappeared.

"I guess it's just us, guys," Alan said.

"Yeah," Gordon nodded, looking uncertainly between Tin-Tin and his brother. "Guess it is."

"Masters help us," Tin-Tin breathed.

* * *

><p>Tracy Island, such as it was, was quiet. <em>Too<em> quiet.

Brains gulped and turned to look at Jeff, who was surveying what he could see. And _all_ he could see was rubble. Smoke rose in lazy curls to the perfect tropical sky, and here and there small fires still burned. There was an acrid stench that told of a plethora of materials and chemicals that had burned or were still burning, and most of the volcanic mountain that had given the island its considerable height was blown away.

"He really _did_ destroy it," Brains breathed in disbelief.

"That he did. But where are Kyrano and John?"

"O-Or Ben, for, ah, that matter."

Slowly they picked their way along the shoreline, which was really the only place they could walk. "They _had_ to have come over here," Jeff said, checking the IDT screen. "The coordinates match exactly with those of the last firing."

At a loss, they just kept going as best they could. Brains stumbled once and then a second time. Jeff barely caught him to keep him from falling on a jagged metal spike sticking up out of the ground. "Be _careful_, Brains. I don't want to lose you, too."

The engineer gave him a lopsided and apologetic smile as they kept going. The trouble was, neither of them knew _where_ they were going.

* * *

><p>"Kyrano?" John coughed, and heard a similar sound from not too far away. "Kyrano?" he called out again.<p>

"I'm…here," was the raspy response.

John flicked his wristwatch light on and shone it around until he saw the older man. "Kyrano!" he cried, moving quickly across the debris-littered floor to his friend's side. "Kyrano, are you okay?"

"I…" Kyrano moaned as John rolled him onto his back, then gasped in disbelief. "I am afraid, I…did not come through…unscathed," he said, then coughed and winced in pain.

Blood splattered from Kyrano's mouth all over John's shirt. He concentrated his watch light onto Kyrano's chest and shook his head. "How'd you get stabbed with that?" he asked, looking at the long, thin shard of plexiglass sticking out the left side of Kyrano's chest. "Oh, God, Kyrano, how…"

"I…had to let him get close enough to me to…" Kyrano dissolved in a fit of coughing. Blood dribbled from his mouth now as John grabbed his hand.

"Father's never going to forgive me. Why did you even come? You were supposed to stay behind!"

Kyrano shook his head, letting his eyes close. "Because then _you_ would have died," he whispered, "and your father would never have forgiven_ me_."

"We can get you healed. All we have to do is go back through the portal to the hospital. Or even to Tracy Island."

"No," Kyrano said. "It is fitting this way. My half-brother is gone for good, as it should be."

"But _you're_ not supposed to be gone for good." The ghost of a smile graced Kyrano's face. "I've got to get you out of here."

"John Tracy," he said, so quietly that John had to lean forward and put his ear close to the dying man's mouth, "you know of the connections now. You know how important you all are to one another."

"Yes, I know," John said with a nod, drawing his head back so that he could look into Kyrano's eyes. "But you're part of that, too. You…well, you're…you know…Dad's."

He raised an eyebrow. "I doubt he sees it that way."

"Well, I'll _make_ him see it. Hell, if _I_ can believe, so can _he_."

"Your father," Kyrano said, before dissolving into another coughing fit. This time the pain was far too much and he cried out. John took both of his hands and held them tightly. "Your father holds my life," Kyrano said. "If he doesn't already know from that, then he never will."

"I can't let you die," John said, shaking his head. "We need you."

"No…longer. Not…with Gaat dead."

John looked up and around them. In the distance he could see Ben's body inside the chamber they had been able to get him to enter. Then Gaat had come through stronger than ever and Ben had escaped, felling John. When John awoke, his other-dimensional brother was gone and Kyrano, nearly so.

"I need Dad," John said simply. He raised the watch to his face, doubting it would work between dimensions, but not knowing what else to do. "Dad, come in," he said, one hand still holding tightly to Kyrano's. "Please, Dad."

* * *

><p>"Mister, ah, Tracy, have you considered, ah, using the watch?"<p>

"The…the watch?"

"Y-Yes, I'm not wearing mine, the hospital, ah, took it o-off me at some point, I-I guess."

"Will it work here?"

"W-well, i-if there's a Thunderbird, ah, Five here, I-I don't see why not."

Jeff raised the watch to his face just as his missing son's appeared on it. "John? John!"

"Dad!"

"John, where are you? Where's Kyrano?"

"We're…down in the Stasis Unit room; the one with the single-part Chamber."

"How'd you get down there?"

"Under where the roundhouse used to be, there's a small opening." John's blue eyes met the blue-gray ones of his father. "Hurry."

"Oh, God," Jeff breathed.

Jeff and Brains began scrambling toward the roundhouse. Bits of metal, glass, rock and varying other pieces of debris cut into their flesh like so many knives, but neither paid the wounds heed. All they could think of was getting to the Stasis Chamber. Jeff knew just from the look John had given him, they wouldn't like what they found.

* * *

><p>"I don't see any sign of them," Scott said as he looked around. "Wow, what a mess."<p>

"No kidding. So this is what Tracy Island looks like post-apocalypse."

Scott raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Where the hell could they all be?"

Just then, both men heard a noise in front of them and slightly left. Scott motioned to Virgil who laced his fingers together palms-up and crouched down to let Scott step into his now-cupped hands. He slowly lifted him until Scott was a good four feet over top of Virgil's head.

"I see them!" he said, pointing toward where the roundhouse used to stand. "I'm sure that was Brains who just disappeared into a hole!"

Virgil lowered his brother, who hopped off his hands a foot off the ground. Lickety-split they started making their way over the rubble, sure they'd either burn their shoes off or lose a few toes. But it didn't matter, as long as they found their family members safe and sound, and returned them to the dimension they _belonged_ to.

* * *

><p>Penelope and Parker turned as one when the door to Gabriel's room opened. "Ned!" the Lady exclaimed as he walked in looking like death warmed over.<p>

He just looked up at them and then walked over to the incubator, where he stood staring at the premature infant laying within. "He's all I have left."

"All you have left?" Penny repeated. "But…I thought you didn't…"

"He's half Adi," Ned said simply. "All that's left of her."

Penny just nodded, sharing a look with Parker.

"I guess I've got to be his dad now," Ned continued. "They must've gotten the Hood out of him, huh?"

"Yes, we—I believe they were successful, Ned."

The door opened again and a nurse entered the room. "Mr. Cook, I'm so awfully glad you've come to see him. He needs his father around now more than ever," said the same nurse Penny remembered from earlier. The woman stopped and laid a hand gently on Ned's back. "I'm sorry about your wife."

Ned nodded. "Thanks," he said as the nurse tended to the incubator's settings.

Penelope and Parker stared at one another and both mouthed the questioning word "Wife?"

"How long 'til I can hold him?"

"Oh, not for some time, I'm afraid, Mr. Cook, at least, not out in the open. We have a sterile room where we can move him, and you'll have to be thoroughly cleansed and properly robed before you're allowed to. I think in a day or two he'll be ready as long as he keeps doing this well." She fussed and hmm'd over some readings.

"What?" Ned said. "Is he all right?"

"Actually, I think I'm going to call the neo-natal specialist on duty."

Ned's eyes widened and he grabbed the nurse's arm. "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing," the nurse smiled. "In fact, the problem is he's doing much _better _than I would have expected, much _better_ than he should be! His vitals are so good he may not even need that oxygen mask anymore!" With that, she left the room whistling a tune.

Ned turned to his companions. "Something Gaat left behind?"

"Oh, I certainly hope not," Penny replied, face twisting in disgust. "Ned, did I hear the nurse correctly just now? She called Adi your…wife?"

He gave her a watery smile. "Yes. Adi and I were married right before I…it was the last time I saw her until this, was our wedding night."

"Oh, Ned," Penny said, walking toward him but still keeping her distance. "I'm ever so sorry. We didn't know."

"No one did," he said. "And now there's a baby with my last name."

"You're…keeping him?"

"I have to," Ned said. "It's what Adi would have wanted. She loved him. In spite of how he came to be, she loved him." He moved back to the incubator and looked at the tiny life inside. "I guess…I guess I love him, too."

Penny shifted uncomfortably until Parker lightly touched her arm. He motioned toward the door with his head and she nodded. "We'll be just out in the hall if you need anything." Then she turned and followed her butler out.

"Milady?" Parker scratched his nose and reached out a hand, touching her back gently. "Milady." She turned to look at him and he was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "C'oh, milady, don' cry, now, it's all goin' ta wash."

"Oh, Parker, I'm afraid I've made a terrible mess of things," she replied, fighting to keep from dissolving in front of him. He led her to a small waiting room at the end of the hall, gently pushing her into a chair there. "Thank you, Parker."

He said nothing, simply sat down next to her with his hand flat on her back between her shoulder blades. He waited while she fought the sadness, fought the annoyance with herself and her actions. He watched as her face showed every emotion as it passed through her, marveling at how quietly elegant she was even on these rare occasions where she wasn't the self-assured Lady of England.

"Parker?"

"Yes, milady?"

"Why is it that through everything, even when I make a complete mess of it all, you're still here with me?"

"Well!" he said indignantly. "H'as h'if H'I'd be anywhere else, milady! H'as h'if!"

She smiled and turned to look into his eyes. "But you always pick up the pieces. Nobody's seen me this way but you."

"H'and h'if I 'ave me own way about h'it, no one else evveh will, H'I can tell you that much."

She smiled and he very nearly swooned himself right off the chair. For of course the one thing he could never, ever tell her…and never _would_ tell her…was how hopelessly in love with her he had been from the moment they'd met.

Penelope's eyes widened. She cocked her head and looked at him as a lone tear trickled from the corner of her left eye. "Why, Parker, you astound me," she said and his face turned beet red. "Why didn't you ever just say so?"

"Uh…say so, milady?"

She just gave him a knowing look and rose to her feet. "It would appear Kyrano left something interesting behind."

"'E—'E did?"

She smiled as she felt waves of fear, hope…and above all, love…roll from her butler and partner in crime. "Parker, it's time to do some traveling. We must get to Tin-Tin in Kuala Lumpur as quickly as you can make it happen."

He popped to his feet. "Yes, milady, H'I'll see to it righ' away." As he began to scurry away, her voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"And Parker?"

"Yes, milady?"

"Thank you."

He tipped his head, proffering his non-existent cap to her, and grinned cheekily as he winked. "Always, milady," he said gruffly, before turning on heel and making his way toward the exit.

Penelope gazed out the row of windows to a parking garage that was next door. "Life certainly is full of unexpected surprises." She smiled and wiped the tear track from her cheek. "Unexpected, indeed."

* * *

><p>"John! Kyrano!"<p>

"Dad!"

Jeff's watch light waved around wildly as he ran the last few feet from the hole where he and Brains had gained entrance to the Stasis Chamber. Brains was right on his heels, and both men soon reached Kyrano's side. Brains checked his vitals quickly, but within seconds had looked first at John and then Jeff and started shaking his head.

"Can't we just take him back to the hospital?" John asked. "Or to _our_ island?"

"I-I'm afraid any movement could, ah, slice his heart in two," Brains said. "Th-This piece of, ah, plexiglass has stabbed right through. I-It's astonishing he lived a-at all."

John felt Kyrano's grip on his hand go slack and whipped his head down. "No," he said, then looked up at his father's face. "Dad," he pleaded with his voice and eyes.

"I…I can't do anything if he can't be moved!" Jeff said, his voice strained and high-pitched.

"But...you had his life force in you," John said. "Didn't you?"

"Yes, but he took it back."

"What if," Brains said, looking across Kyrano's body to John. "What if he didn't?"

"I don't understand," Jeff said, looking first at one, then the other.

"Jeff, he shouldn't, ah, even be a-alive," Brains said. "That plexiglass i-is _through_ his _heart_."

John's eyes widened. "Oh, my God, he _didn't_ take it back," he said, reaching across and grasping Jeff's shoulder tightly. "Dad, it's still inside you. That's what he meant!"

Shaking his head, Jeff looked down at the man who for all intents and purposes looked dead, save for the fact that he was still warm and breathing.

"What did he say, ah, John?"

"Instead of 'your father _held_ my life,' he said 'your father _holds_ my life,' Dad! That's what he said to me just minutes before I called you!"

"But…why did he tell me it was back with _him_?" Jeff breathed, reaching out and taking Kyrano's hand from John's. "Why would he have left it with me?"

"He knew," Brains said simply.

"Knew?" John repeated.

"He's known all along this was going to happen."

John swallowed hard. "He knew the only way to get rid of his brother once and for all was to sacrifice himself."

"But," Brains continued, all traces of his hesitancy gone in the face of complete understanding, "he knew if he left his life force within you, Mr. Tracy, he wouldn't actually die."

"Wait, I know how to know for sure," John said. "Brains, take Dad's pulse."

"Take his…of _course_!" Brains reached out and touched Jeff's neck directly over his carotid. He closed his eyes and then leaned forward and jammed his ear to Jeff's chest, causing the patriarch to flinch as John grinned broadly.

Slowly Brains raised his head. He looked into Jeff's eyes. "It's there," he said. "I'm certain I heard two distinct heartbeats."

"But then why am I all right?" Jeff asked. "When I almost died in that hospital, Penny said Kyrano did, too."

"You hold _his_ life force," John said, looking at where his father held Kyrano's hand in both of his. "It's only if something happens to _you_ that he'll die."

"Brains, if all this is true, does that mean we can move him?"

"I don't see why not."

"Why aren't you pausing in your speech like you usually do?"

John laughed. "One shouldn't have to keep up appearances in front of one's friends."

"Huh?" Jeff said, and Brains chuckled.

"Let's move him, Father. Now."

"Dad?"

Jeff jumped to his feet. "Scott?"

"_There_ you are."

"Virgil!" Brains called out.

"What are you two doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Scott said, frowning as he leaned over to get a better look at Kyrano. "Is he…?"

"No, and he won't be," Jeff said. "Boys, we need to get him back to the island now."

"Can you heal him?"

"I can heal his, uh, body, Scott," Brains said, drawing a strange look from Jeff and a knowing one from John as he began talking the old way again. "But, the, ah, rest, will be u-up to your father."

Virgil and Scott exchanged looks before turning their eyes to Jeff, who blushed crimson in the dark remnants of this dimension's island.

"Dad, there's one more thing I have to do before I join you," John said. "There's another IDT here. The time I came over here, Ben told me he had one of his own, and I know he wasn't wearing it when he hit our island."

"That's right, he wasn't!" Brains exclaimed.

"Oh, shit," Scott whispered.

John nodded. "Exactly. I've got to find it and destroy it before I can leave here."

"I-I'm staying, too."

Scott's and Virgil's eyes moved to Brains' face.

"What?" the scientist said. "Y-You think I-I'm leaving John a-alone with a dead Hood's, ah, soul around, y-you've been sniffing o-oxyhydnite again."

John stifled a laugh, then stooped to help lift Kyrano into Jeff's arms. "What about him, Brains?" he asked. "He needs you right now more than I do."

"Actually, h-he doesn't," Brains said confidently, looking at Jeff. "What he needs, he, ah, now has."

"Let's go, boys," he said, cradling the limp body close to his chest and giving Brains a small smile, "before there's nothing I can do at all."

Scott keyed in the coordinates to their own Tracy Island. "You sure you're okay to stay here?" he asked.

John pointed his wristwatch light across the way to the sealed see-through stasis chamber. Ben Tracy was clearly dead. And that chamber was still air-tight, in spite of the destruction surrounding it. "Yep," John finally answered. "We'll be just fine."

The portal was opened, and before long its brilliance had left Brains and John both rubbing at their eyes to clear their vision. "Just us, Brains."

"That it is," Brains said. He was surprised when John took two quick strides toward him, and utterly shocked when John's arms came around him and squeezed him tightly.

When John released him and backed away, Brains tried to peer at him but could barely see his shadow. "What was that for?" he asked, genuinely curious.

John shrugged, knowing Brains wouldn't be able to see it. "I'm glad to see you."

Brains grinned. "Ditto. Now where should we look for the IDT?"

"Same place we kept them on our side, if we can get to it."

"The lab," Brains said. "Right." He grabbed John's arm and moved it around so he could point the watchlight in multiple directions. "We might, ah, be here for a while."

"I'm counting on it," John said, slinging his arm over the slightly shorter man's shoulders. Off Brains' surprised look, he grinned. "Come on."


	12. Unification

_With the Hood __gone from their lives for good, our heroes' attention now turns to bringing back the ones they love the most, and to the biggest rescue call International Rescue has ever had in either dimension…that of the entire world. But is Belah Gaat really and truly gone?_

_Author's Note: The name of this saga, "Permata Hijau," means 'Green Gem' in Bahasa Melayu, Kyrano and Tin-Tin's native language. This is Arc 2 of an the ongoing Tracy Saga. If you have not yet read Arc 1, also known as "Diraja Satu," this story will make no sense at all._

_Acknowledgment: Thank you so much to those who made this series possible, so many years ago all the way through to today. This is the final story in the second arc of this saga, and none of it would not have happened without the indomitable Samantha Winchester and the invincible GillyLee._

* * *

><p><strong>UNIFICATION<strong>

_By LMC_

* * *

><p>"I have the syntheblood line ready with four units."<p>

Virgil looked up from where he held the auto-surgeon instrument poised directly over the shard of plexiglass embedded in Kyrano's chest. One of Brains' most amazing inventions to date, the auto-surgeon combined electromagnetics with positively charged ions and short-wave gamma rays to heal internal injuries from _outside_ the body. "I wish Brains had come back with us."

"Well, he couldn't," Jeff said.

"_Couldn't_, Father?" Scott inquired as Jeff moved to stand just opposite Virgil.

"I wasn't about to leave John over there alone."

"One of _us_ could've stayed with him," Scott said with a frown.

"I don't think so, Scott," Virgil said and waited until Scott's eyes found his.

The heir to…not much of anything, really, at the moment, given the state All Things Tracy was currently in…stared at Virgil for a few seconds. Slowly his frown became softer as brother met brother in silent conversation. Finally, he just said, "Oh."

"Let's do this, boys. We need Kyrano to keep that date with Malaysia."

Every man was ready. Jeff put his hand over the end of the shard, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And very nearly died of fright when a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. His eyes flew open to find Kyrano looking right at him.

"No," the breathy voice said.

"Kyrano, stop it, we're going to get you fixed up!" Jeff puffed as though he'd just run the 440.

Kyrano's head shook side to side. "You must…not."

"Why?" Virgil asked. "The Hood hasn't got you, has he?"

"No," Kyrano replied. "But…your father…cannot live this way."

"What the _hell_ are you talking about?" Jeff boomed.

A smile graced the Malay man's face. "I have caused far too much trouble for you and those you love."

Jeff looked up at Scott next to him, then Virgil across from him. He visibly struggled before finally losing the battle. "Dammit, Kyrano, you _are_ one of the ones I love!"

Breathing hard, Jeff forced himself to meet Kyrano's eyes, conveying the disbelief he felt that Kyrano wouldn't already know that. Virgil eyed his brother, then his father, and then smiled. "Dad's right," he said. "You're part of our family as much as he is."

"You don't…understand. If…if you join with me to keep me alive, Jeff," Kyrano said, "it will become…permanent."

"What does that mean exactly?" Scott asked as his father's face became unreadable.

"I…think you…know…"

Jeff looked at both his sons. Scott saw in them the pleading look he'd seen the night of his mother's death. Begging for help, begging for someone to take the pain away, take the lead, keep him from having to deal with the unfathomable. He brought his hand up to rest on his father's shoulder.

"We're saving your life whether you want us to or not," Virgil said, noting the taut muscles in Scott's neck.

"Permanent?" Jeff finally said as though he'd only just then wrapped his head around the whole thing.

"Permanent," Kyrano repeated, nodding once. "If you live, I live. If…you die…I die."

"You mean your life force will always be in me."

Nodding once again, only this time with his eyes closing, Kyrano whispered, "Yes. If you initiate it…and I am too weak to do so…then it is forever, Jeff Tracy." Reopening his eyes, he focused them on the gray ones he knew so well. "Are you certain you can do that?"

Jeff squared his shoulders and leaned down so his mouth was touching Kyrano's left ear. "Here's your answer, Meor," he whispered, and in one swift motion pulled the plexiglass shard clean out of his chest.

Kyrano gasped, chest arching off the table as Virgil worked frantically to close the hole in his heart using the auto-surgeon. Scott gauged the syntheblood transfer and watched the Auto Nurse closely as Jeff threw the shard to the floor. He grasped Kyrano's hands and moved so his forehead was touching the dying man's.

"You're not leaving me," Jeff said gruffly. "You hear me?"

Virgil's and Scott's eyes met as the heart began slowly to heal.

His voice quieter as his eyes closed, he repeated fiercely, "You're _not_ leaving me!"

* * *

><p>"What could be keeping them?" Tin-Tin asked, chewing mercilessly on the only two decent fingernails she had left. "What's happened to Father?"<p>

"I'll try Scott again," Gordon offered and Alan nodded his thanks as he tried calming Tin-Tin by taking her into his arms.

"Lee Seung will be back in fifteen minutes!" Tin-Tin exclaimed, pushing away from Alan and continuing what had become a relentless pace of the Rainbow penthouse suite from front to back. "If my father's not here, what will I do?"

Alan rocked back on his heels, crossing his arms over his chest. He half smiled and said, "You'll do what you were born to do."

She stopped and pivoted to face him. "What?"

"You'll lead your country, and all these other countries, in the fight to return peace to Earth." Alan swung his arms out in a couple revolutions on either side of his body and heard the cartilage pop. He sighed at the feeling and all-out grinned. "I can't think of anyone better suited to the task."

"You're teasing me," she said, a blush creeping up her neck.

"No, Tin-Tin," Alan said, crossing the room and opening his arms to her. "I would never tease about something like this."

"Guys, they've found Kyrano, but he's—" Gordon's eyes darted back and forth between his two companions. "It's touch and go."

"What?" Tin-Tin cried.

"Dad's doing everything he can to save him."

"Your _father_?" Tin-Tin asked, eyes wide. "But…what about Brains? Shouldn't he be there?" She came to stand toe-to-toe with Gordon. "Has something happened to him?"

"What about John?" Alan asked as he approached them.

"They're all fine. John and Brains stayed on the other Tracy Island to find the IDT Ben said he had over there, to destroy it." Gordon looked directly at Tin-Tin. "Ben's dead. Your uncle's gone. _Gone_ gone."

"Oh, thank _God_," she breathed. "But…I don't understand…what is your _father_ doing for mine?"

"I don't know," Gordon shrugged. "But whatever it is, Scott said it was the only way for your father to live."

"Oh," Tin-Tin breathed, realization dawning. "Oh, my."

"What?" Alan asked as she moved to sit down on a nearby overstuffed chair. "Tin-Tin? What's going on?"

She looked up at Alan, unshed tears shining brightly in her hazel eyes. "They're joining," she said. "Father must have left his life force in Mr. Tracy."

"Say what?" Gordon said.

"If my father were injured, oh, he knew! He _knew_!"

"Tin-Tin, honey, you're not making any sense," Alan said, crouching down next to her. "Who knew what?"

"My father must have known all that was to transpire," she said, a tear leaking from the corner of her eye. As Alan reached up to brush it away with his thumb, she continued, "Don't you see? When Father helped him, when he said he had to transfer his life force back into himself…he didn't. He knew Jeff would need to keep it."

"Okaaaaay," Gordon said, not really getting it at all. "But what is Dad doing now?"

"The only way he'd be able to save my father is if he joined with him," Tin-Tin explained. When she received blank looks from the brothers, she placed one hand over each of theirs. "Become his…" She searched the multiple languages she knew for just the right word. "Become his adoré."

Alan rolled his eyes. "I hate it when you speak French, Tin-Tin."

Tin-Tin smiled as her tears spilled over and rolled swiftly down her cheeks. "His…beloved, Alan."

"Be…wait a minute, you have got to be kidding me," Gordon said, backing up and waving his hands in front of him like he was swatting away unwanted insects. "_Our_ father?" he said, indicating himself and Alan with a sideways motion. "Our father is on purpose becoming _your _father's…what'd you call it? Adoré? On purpose," he repeated. "Seriously?"

"Unless I'm misinterpreting something Scott told you," she said, nodding as she took the tissues Alan had gone to get for her, "then yes, that's exactly what he's doing. How can I explain this…it's not anything physical, it's more an…emotional bond."

"Holy shit," Gordon breathed as his and Alan's eyes met. "But what does that mean for them?"

"It means," Tin-Tin said, her face falling, "that I don't think Lady Penelope will be marrying your father after all."

* * *

><p>"You through yet?"<p>

"Yes," came the clipped response. "I used my laser vision to break through the wall thirty seconds ago."

"Oh, come on, Brains, you know I didn't mean to bust your balls."

Brains chuckled. "Either way, John, the fact is that it'll take us eons to get through this rubble to where the lab used to be, and I'm hungry."

"Yeah, I am too. But I'm not leaving here until that IDT is found and destroyed."

Brains sighed and turned back to the chunks of wall, floor, wood and concrete he was slowly moving to the side. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, nearly dropping a two-by-two square of said concrete right onto his toe.

"What say we do things the caveman way?" John said as Brains put the offending concrete down to his right.

"I thought that's what we _were_ doing," the scientist replied.

"No, I mean _eat_. I bet you I can catch enough fish for our dinner."

Brains' face brightened. "And that underwater garden may still have some vegetables!"

"That's the spirit, Brains. I'll make a caveman out of you yet."

"You make me drop one of those pieces of debris on my foot and you'll _see_ caveman," Brains muttered.

John laughed with delight as he and Brains headed up to the top of the rubble heap.

"What are you going to use to _catch_ the fish?"

John stopped short and gave him a funny look. "I haven't thought that far ahead."

"We could just go back to the other dimension and eat, and return. Or one of us could go get some food and come back."

John's smile was wiped from his face. He shook his head. "I can't go, Brains. I _promised_ Ben these IDTs would be destroyed."

Brains looked down and kicked a small piece of twisted aluminum to the side. "I know." He looked back up at him. "And I won't leave _you_."

The smile returned to John's face. "Then maybe you can tell me how to catch a fish with no pole."

"Pole?" Brains repeated, blinking rapidly. "Of _course_! That's _it_!"

"What? What's it?" John asked as Brains took off toward the west. "Brains, what the—what's it?"

Before John knew it they were standing on the far western edge of the island…right in front of a seemingly unscathed boathouse. "It's intact?"

"Yes, John, I didn't set charges here in our dimension, so it occurred to me the Brains of _this_ dimension probably hadn't, either."

"But why not? I thought it was supposed to be _total_ destruction of Tracy Island!"

"Except for the ability of the island's residents to get away," Brains explained. "Your father felt that if it came to the point where we felt the only option was to blow the island up, there should be one final method for whoever was here to get away before it did."

John moved to the boathouse door. With the generators out, the electronic lock didn't work. "Hey, Brains, it—ahhh!" John sidestepped just in times as Brains rushed forward with a large piece of jagged rock and smashed it into the lock. He dropped the rock and the door swung slowly open. "You're already more caveman than I gave you credit for," John remarked, eyebrows raised.

"Never underestimate a geek's instinct for survival," Brains said.

John laughed, shaking his head as he followed him through the door.

* * *

><p>"Shouldn't we do something, Scott?"<p>

Scott shook his head, shrugged, and tossed his hands in the air all at once. "I have no idea. You know, out there in the field I can figure us a way out of any situation you hit me with. This, though?" he said, gesturing to the hospital ward bed where Jeff's and Kyrano's foreheads were still glued to one another's. "This I can't even begin to figure."

Virgil looked up at the Auto Nurse. "Well, whatever Dad's doing, I think it's working."

Scott's eyes followed his brothers and he smiled. "I'll call Al, Gordo and Tin-Tin and let them know."

Nodding, Virgil leaned against the wall, folding his arms over his chest. He looked wistfully at the pair on the bed. "I wonder what exactly it is they're doing," he whispered as he heard Scott make the call.

* * *

><p>"<em>You are certain."<em>

"_Yes."_

"_Because if you have even one doubt, my life force can be removed from you."_

"_But then you'll die."_

"_Yes."_

"_Why doesn't that bother you? How can you talk about it like it's no big deal?"_

"_To me, Jeff, death is not something to be feared or dreaded. To me, death is a natural progression to the next level of existence."_

"_I'm not sure I believe that."_

"_That is why, when faced with death, you fight it."_

"_My wife would still be alive. She would've been alive for her sons; for all of us. Of course I fight it. International Rescue fights it every day with every breath we take. If death is such a welcome event, why do you help us save lives?"_

"_Jeff, there's something you must understand. Death comes to us when it's meant to. If a child is meant to move on, they will, regardless whether your sons stand by his side. If a monorail full of passengers is meant to crash, because each person on board is meant to die, it will, even if Thunderbird 2 is there. By its very nature, International Rescue is saving the people who are not yet meant to die."_

"_You're telling me that no matter what we do, we'll never be able to save those who aren't meant to live."_

"_That's correct."_

"_I can't abide by that, Kyrano. If you use that logic, then what's the point of even trying?"_

"_Because, Jeff, your existence is what has restored order where before there was chaos. You do what you do because it's what was meant to be. You are an integral part of the world's very balance."_

"_So why is it you do what you do?"_

"_Because it is my path to be here."_

"_Be here? Where, with us on the island?"_

"_With you."_

"_I see. So is it your time to die?"_

"_I don't know. We don't always know."_

"_Well I say it isn't, and if your universe doesn't like that answer, it can be damned."_

"_You are stubborn, Jeff Tracy."_

"_You are too, in your own way."_

"_I suppose you're right about that."_

"_It's time, Kyrano."_

"_Yes, I feel it. I must ask you once more, for the sake of our friendship, if you are certain of this decision."_

"_And I'll tell you once more or a thousand times more, Kyrano, that I stand by my decision."_

"_Even if it means—"_

"_Yes. Even if it means that."_

"_Then let us return to them."_

"_And let's finish this mess once and for all."_

* * *

><p>"You know, you're a pretty good cook, Brains," John said, wiping the last bit of fish oil from his lips.<p>

"Well, it doesn't take a—"

"Genius?" John finished for him, and they laughed. "Well, to be honest, cooking was never my forte."

"You're good at other things."

"Oh, _do_ tell," John said as he rose to his feet and stretched. He watched carefully as Brains mimicked the gesture.

"Well, for one thing, you know more about the cosmos than most men twice your age."

He dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"For another, you can speak almost as many languages as I programmed Braman with." Brains stopped and his eyes grew wide. His mouth opened, then shut, then opened again and hung there.

"Brains?"

"Oh, no."

"Brains, what is it?"

"We're not safe."

"What are you talking about?"

"I programmed Braman to reactivate the stasis chamber if the power ever went out."

"You did _what_?"

"Your father and I…it was something we were working on, I didn't…I'd completely forgotten, it hasn't even been tested yet."

"Well, the Brains on this side may not have done the same thing," John said, concern in his eyes.

"Everything else has been the same."

"No," John shook his head. "Not everything."

"Such as?"

"Such as the Brains in this dimension couldn't possibly be exactly the same as you."

"Why not?"

"Because you are the soul that Ben was. That would mean the Brains that lived _here_…"

"Would be _Virgil_?"

Their eyes met. "You think so?" John asked.

"I know so," Brains nodded.

"So would a Brains with Virgil's soul have done what you did?"

"It's hard to say. He obviously designed the same equipment I did, up to and including the stasis chamber."

"We'd better get back down there and check," John said. "Just to be on the safe side."

"I really wish I had a gun."

"Me too, Brains," John said as they made their way back along the rubble in the waning light. "Me too."

* * *

><p>"Your Highness, the time has come. China is preparing to join the secessionists."<p>

"Lee Seung, no! I've barely had an hour's time!"

"My apologies, but even my influence is no use in the face of your father's continued absence. They think they're being lied to because he has not shown himself."

"He's _trying_," Tin-Tin said, grasping Lee Seung's hand. "You must believe me!"

"Oh, I _do_ believe you. It is China who does not. They will take Mongolia easily, Sultana, and Malaysia will fall next. Of that you can be certain."

"What will I tell them?" Tin-Tin said. "What can I possibly say to these men I don't even know?"

"You'll know what to say, Tin-Tin."

She turned to look at the man she loved more than she could even put name to. "Alan, this isn't as simple as reciting the Seven Natural Laws of the Univer—" She stopped cold, her jaw dropping and her eyes becoming round as saucers.

"Tin-Tin?" Alan practically squeaked as he and Gordon rushed to her. "Tin-Tin, what is it?"

"That's it," she breathed, a smile growing on her face until Alan was sure it was going to split her head in two. "Oh, Father, bless you." She turned to Lee Seung. "Hook me into that conference _now_."

"But…Tin-Tin, what—"

"My father has been trying to make me understand this my whole life," Tin-Tin said softly. "And I never did until this very moment."

"Understand _what_?" Gordon asked.

"Just listen," she said, smoothing her hair and using one of the tissues she still had balled in her fists to wipe beneath her eyes. "How do I look?" she tossed over her shoulder to Alan as she turned to face the video monitor and camera setup in the wall near the table they'd been seated at earlier.

"Like a queen," Alan beamed, leaning forward and kissing her cheek. "Go get 'em, woman."

She turned and winked at him as Lee Seung connected to the waiting Chinese dignitaries. But they weren't the only ones on the video monitor, not by a longshot. Tin-Tin and everyone else stared in disbelief when people of multiple nationalities appeared before them.

"Sultana Tin-Tin of the Family Kyrano," the Chinese leader Hae-Kwong said, bowing his head. "We were waiting for your father."

"My father is working on something very important at the moment, gentlemen," Tin-Tin said calmly, her chin held high. Gordon looked at Alan and winked.

"Then if he is not there, what is the point of this conversation?"

"To remind you of something, Emperor," Tin-Tin said. "Something you very well know, but have not yet learned."

Lee Seung looked sharply askance at her as there were murmurs around the table from not only the Chinese, but several other heads of countries.

"The first, Emperor, is the Law of Transmutation, or shàn biàn."

"Shàn biàn?" Lee Seung repeated, and then slowly a smile grew on his face. "My sultana, you are a genius," he whispered.

Gordon and Alan exchanged looks. "You see, Emperor, energy changes into solid substances, and the reverse, all the time. And what you think, if you think it enough, will actually materialize before you."

"Yes, yes, of course I know all that, but—"

"And the second law, Emperor, the Law of Relativity, or yǒu guān lián. There is no good in this world. There is no bad, there is no nothing until we humans _relate_ it to something. For example, the man you did business with, the man who was my half-uncle? He was not evil, not truly. He was only evil in that what he did to others was not in the best interests of their well-being." She looked pointedly at Hae-Kwong. "And what you did in taking the arms and training he was supplying was not bad, it was simply a decision you made which has led us to where we are today."

The emperor huffed and looked at Lee Seung, but Lee Seung's eyes were on Tin-Tin.

"The third law, the one of attraction. I believe you would know it best as yǐn lì, Emperor. You attract what you think about, what you project. War has come to us this day because it's what we're all expecting, what we're all projecting. And therefore it is what we are all receiving."

Alan and Gordon looked at each other, but instead of having question marks in their eyes, they actually started to understand what Tin-Tin was saying. Just then, she turned and held her hands out to them. Alan moved confidently to her left side, while Gordon more hesitantly moved to her right. They took her hands, spreading quiet murmurs throughout the table of country leaders once more.

"The law of polarity," Tin-Tin continued, squeezing Gordon's and Alan's hands tightly. "Xiāng duì teaches us that everything has an opposite. Male as to female. Up as to down." She looked directly into the emperor's eyes again. "War as to peace, Hae-Kwong."

Rather than looking at her like he wouldn't mind throwing a dagger or two her way this time, the emperor of China leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers before him.

"Xuán lǜ speaks of the fact that day always follows night. That good always follows bad. The Law of Rhythm, gentlemen, and one which we must now pay careful attention to. For as good follows bad, so too does bad follow good. And your decisions here today will make the difference between which it is to be."

"Who are these men who stand as bǎo biāo, Sultana?"

Tin-Tin grinned and ducked her head. She looked first at Gordon and then turned her eyes to Alan. "They are not my bodyguards, Emperor, as you say," she said, noting Alan's raised eyebrow. "This is my betrothed. He is the man I am to marry." She tore her eyes from the ones so blue and looked at Gordon.

"What does that make me, then?" Gordon whispered.

"And this is my brother, in every sense of the word there can be," she said, beaming as Gordon's face morphed from a look of surprise to a look of what she could only describe as love. Tin-Tin turned back to the screen. "And that leads us, then, Emperor, into the next law of the natural universe, and that is the Law of Cause and Effect. Perhaps you have heard it as zhì shǐ. Whatever you send out comes back to you."

The emperor leaned forward, staring intently at her.

"I say to you now that what you send out today will, and make no mistake about it, have effects upon you and your people the likes of which you cannot possibly fathom."

A strange sound coming from behind the closed door of one of the penthouse suite's bedrooms made all four of the room's occupants turn and give it a strange look.

"What was that?" Alan asked.

Tin-Tin smiled broadly and turned back to face the video monitor. "The final law, Emperor?"

"The Law of Xìng, Sultana, I know it well."

"I thought you might given that you have quite the pool of concubines even in this day and age."

Alan's jaw dropped mirroring Gordon's as Lee Seung flushed crimson and waited for the emperor's reaction. To their surprise and relief, he laughed heartily. One by one everyone else around the table began to laugh until at last they quieted.

"Your points are well-made, young Sultana, and well-taken. But I must ask you this, and you must give me the truth. Where is your father? Where is Meor bin Kyrano?"

Alan squeezed her hand. Gordon looked up at the emperor and then down at Tin-Tin's face. It had lost its mirth and she'd turned at least a shade paler. Everyone waited to hear her answer. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Her father is here."

They whipped around to find Jeff, Scott, Virgil and Kyrano filing through the bedroom door. Tin-Tin glowed with happiness, then her brow furrowed as her father came to stand behind her, and Jeff was instantly shoulder-to-shoulder with him. As one they bowed low, before righting themselves and moving to the side. Virgil and Scott walked up to her next, each winking at her, before they, too, bowed to her and then moved to stand opposite of Jeff and Kyrano.

"Meor!" the emperor exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "You live!"

"Of course I live, or had you heard otherwise?" Kyrano inquired as Scott glanced across at his dad.

"No, your death had not been reported, but when you failed to show—"

"I failed to show because I did not feel my presence was required. I am not the sultan, nor have I ever been. The only Kyrano to have ever held the throne of Sarawak is my daughter, the rightful Sultana of Sarawak. If I am not mistaken, she also now holds to the keys to most of the other states of Malaysia."

"You speak truth, Meor."

"I never speak anything but," Kyrano countered.

"Who are these men with you? Where have you been?"

"These are those who love me, and my daughter, as though we were part of them."

"Well, we are now," Virgil whispered into Scott's ear. "At least, _Dad_ is."

Scott elbowed him and did his best to keep a straight face.

"Why do you seek to cause a further rift in these waters?" Kyrano asked, stepping forward to stand next to Alan and spreading his hands to indicate all that surrounded them. "My half-brother poisoned so many countries, Emperor, but he is gone now, and my daughter brings peace and a stop to all that he was."

"We spent _millions_ buying his services, his weaponry," the emperor said, retaking his seat. "That cannot be ignored."

"Nor shall it be," Tin-Tin said, stepping forward and letting go of Alan's and Gordon's hands. "You see, Emperor, in the wake of my uncle's demise, my father has inherited all that ever belonged to him."

"That is correct," Kyrano confirmed, coming to stand by his daughter's side as Alan and Gordon joined their father and brothers. "And what has been done, will now be undone."

"Rhythm," Tin-Tin smiled.

"Cause and effect," Kyrano added.

"Relativity," the emperor finished. "You mean to restore us completely?"

"On one condition," Kyrano said, looking at his daughter for a moment. She smiled lovingly up at him and nodded. He turned back to the video screen.

"What condition?"

"That you will only receive your money back for that which you physically return to me. Ringgit for ringgit I will ensure you receive what you are rightfully owed."

"Sultana?"

"It is so ordered," Tin-Tin said, nodding once.

"And what of our countries?" a thickly accented man spoke from the opposite side of the table. "Russia has spent more than you can fathom these last many years."

"President Domashev, I assure you that _all_ countries who purchased _anything_ from Belah Gaat in any way, whether on the black market or outright, will be fully restored under the terms and conditions outlined by my father."

The sound was muted by the Emperor of China's aide and an obviously animated discussion ensued. Tin-Tin took the opportunity to turn and bury her face in her father's traditional robes. "Oh, Father, you're here."

"I had little choice in the matter, my daughter," Kyrano said, looking up at Jeff, who raised an eyebrow.

"There's something…different…about you," she said, looking up into her father's eyes.

"And there is something very different about you as well, Tin-Tin."

"There is?"

Kyrano nodded. "You are the sultana I never dreamed you would have to be. But you are her and so much more, in every way."

Alan stepped forward. "Before any of this gets out of hand, Kyrano, I—I need to ask you something."

Jeff's, Scott's and Virgil's eyes widened.

"Yes, Alan?"

Reaching down and taking Tin-Tin's hand between his two, Alan looked Kyrano in the eye. "I vowed to your daughter that I'd follow her to the ends of the Earth. I've…I've asked her to marry me, but I won't without your blessing."

Kyrano grinned and Jeff thought he'd never been more proud of his youngest son, all other accomplishments aside, than he was at that very moment.

"Alan, of course you have my blessing. In fact, I kept wondering what was taking you so long!"

Alan's jaw dropped as Gordon and Scott guffawed and Virgil shook his head and rolled his eyes. Lee Seung approached and welcomed Kyrano with a brief hug, but before they could speak the sound from the video monitor returned.

"Sultana Tin-Tin bin Kyrano of Sarawak," the emperor side, rising to his feet.

Tin-Tin swallowed hard and stepped forward. "Emperor Hae-Kwong, Dynasty of Liao. Speak."

"Your proposal has been accepted by all who attend with me here."

Alan could literally feel Tin-Tin deflate, and surreptitiously put his arm around her back.

"There is only one country not represented, and that is North Korea. I will see to it President Nah accedes."

"Emperor, your choice has been noted for the record." Tin-Tin looked to Lee Seung, who nodded once. "You will be in contact with Kim Lee Seung one week from today. You will lead the secessionists back to the World Economic Union."

Hae-Kwong's chest puffed with pride. "It would be my honor and my pleasure, Sultana. And now, if you will excuse us, there is much to do. Selamat tinggal, Wise Sultana of Sarawak…no. Of Malaysia."

Tin-Tin smiled, doing everything she could to hold herself together even though her legs felt like gelatin. "Sòng bié, Emperor."

Lee Seung cut the video feed. Tin-Tin practically fell into Alan's arms. He quickly lifted her and placed her on the nearby plush velvet sofa. Kyrano rushed to her side, speaking softly to both her and Alan as the latter brought her a bottle of water.

"Dad?" Scott said. "We ought to check on Brains and John."

"They'll be back as soon as they've found the device and destroyed it," Jeff said.

"Father?"

"Yes, Virgil?"

"What…you know…what happened back on the island?"

"You were there."

"Of course we were," Scott said, "but we weren't exactly privy to what it was you did that saved Kyrano's life."

"We _all_ did that boys, each of us."

"That heart patch job I did can't be nearly as good as Brains would've done."

Jeff shrugged, "Apparently it was good enough, Virgil."

Scott cocked his head. "What _is_ it with you?"

They all turned when the front door of the penthouse suite opened. "Uh-oh," Gordon mumbled, taking a couple steps back and then deciding the opposite side of the table would be the best place under the circumstances.

All eyes looked upon the new arrivals, then as one each and every head turned to look at Jeff. Jeff, who stood like a deer in headlights for a few moments before crossing the room to greet them.

"Penny," he said. "I'm glad you made it." He turned and stuck out his hand to Parker, who shook it heartily until Penelope gave him a sidelong glance.

"Jeff, it _is_ good to see you. I'm glad you're well. Is Tin-Tin here?"

"Penny!" she exclaimed and rushed to hug her friend. "Oh, Penny, I'm so glad you came."

"How is everyone?" Penelope asked as Jeff backed away. She frowned and looked at him. "John?"

"He's still on the other side, Penny."

"He is?" Gordon asked, forgetting to be concerned for his own well-being. "How come?"

"He and Brains stayed behind to find the last IDT. Ben told John he had one of his own that he'd gotten somehow on his side."

"Of course!" Virgil breathed, snapping his fingers. "The sultan could easily have gotten any others Gaat had made before he disappeared over there." He sobered, though, as he remembered how that Sultan Kyrano from the other dimension had been the only reason he'd been able to return to his own family…and how he was now dead.

"And Ben?"

"Ben's gone," Scott said, strolling into the sitting room. "Kyrano and John saw to it that Gaat's soul went with him. It's locked up in a stasis chamber on the other Tracy Island."

"He won't be getting out of that one," Virgil confirmed. "Not with all the power off on that island."

Jeff's eyes widened as he turned to his second son. "What did you say?" he whispered.

"I said, he won't…be getting out of that one with the power off…what?"

"Dad?" Scott said, taking a step forward.

"Oh, my God," Jeff said, a look of horror on his face. "What have I done?"

"What do you mean?" Penny asked, laying a hand on his arm. "Jeff, what is it?"

"When I had the stasis chamber built, it was only to be used in case of extreme emergency," Jeff said, starting to pace. "In case one of us was so badly injured Brains couldn't figure a way to heal us, or he needed to suspend us long enough to heal us before we died. It was something he and I had talked about extensively."

"And?" Scott prompted.

"And one of his greatest concerns in having it was that if it was tied to the same systems as any of the rest of the island, and one or all of those systems went, it would mean the chamber would stop working. If anyone was in it, they'd die."

Alan snapped his fingers as the light bulb went off. "You installed a completely independent electrical generator for the stasis chamber!"

"We did one better," Jeff said grimly. "We programmed Braman to be alerted when the power went off, and if it wasn't back on in two hours, to activate, get to the chamber, and power it up himself."

"When did you do _that_?" Scott asked, his tone clipped.

"Brains did it…only a month ago. He hadn't tested it yet, and he wanted to bring it up at a briefing, but I told him to wait until it had been fully tested."

"But wouldn't Braman have been destroyed in the explosion?" Virgil asked. "He was kept in the lab."

"No," Jeff shook his head, face going white. "Brains was keeping him there in the stasis room until he could complete the testing."

"We've got to get back over there. _Now_!" Scott barked.

* * *

><p>"You see anything?"<p>

"No. You?"

"No," John shook his head. "Maybe we're worried for no reason."

"Well, you're the only one with a light," Brains said from his right side.

John nodded and turned his watch light toward the chamber. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as Brains grabbed his arm.

The chamber was empty.

John looked quickly around, then turned off his watch light, grabbed Brains and pulled him back behind a mound of rubble. He backed up against him and could feel his chest heaving in time with his own as they listened. But there wasn't a sound.

Brains tugged on John's shirt. John leaned back until he felt Brains' breath on his ear. "We should get back to our side."

John shook his head, turned around, and felt his lips brush against the scientist's before they made it to his ear. "We can't leave Gaat here."

Brains nodded, then reached out to feel the pile of rubble. He hissed as something in it cut into his hand. John flicked the watch light on dim and saw a long gash on Brains' right hand that went from the bottom of his ring finger to his wrist. Quickly he pulled off his tee shirt and wrapped it tightly around the hand, tying a quick knot before turning the watch light back off.

Facing him now, John leaned forward so his mouth was at Brains' ear again. "We'll go back out the way we came in, but I want you in front of me."

Brains nodded and the two crept out from their hiding place, John leading them by memory. They stopped when their feet hit something sticky on the floor, only a few seconds later realizing it must have been Kyrano's blood. Quietly making their way with baby steps, they heard a sound from not too far away that made them stop dead in their tracks.

It was a laugh both men knew only too well.

As one they turned, John keeping Brains behind him. "Ben?" he said, turning his watch light on full power and shining it around in front of them. He clapped a hand to his mouth when it found something so hideous, John could barely comprehend what he was seeing.

It was Ben, all right…or what was left of him.

Rather than the healthy amalgamation of John and Virgil Tracy that this unknown brother had once been, he was now gray-skinned, covered in blood and very clearly dehydrated, as his skin seemed to have shrunk over his bones.

"Ben?" John squeaked, and Brains came out to stand next to him.

When Ben tried to open his mouth to speak, however, only a gurgle emerged.

"His vocal cords aren't working," Brains whispered. "He was dead too long."

"Then Gaat means to take one of us," John said, trying to shove Brains back behind him.

"Stop that!"

"I don't want it to be you!"

"Well, I don't want it to be you!"

A blinding light appeared in the space between them and Ben, and within seconds the room was back to being pitch black.

"I don't want it to be _any_ of us," Jeff growled as each of the newcomers lit hand-held flashlights and shone them in Ben's direction. "Mother of _God_," Jeff breathed as he took in the creature before them.

"What the _hell_?" Virgil said as he took in the stumbling, wobbling thing that he'd first discovered was his replacement in this dimension when he himself had been disembodied.

"He's still dangerous," Kyrano said, stepping out to the side, "because my half-brother is the only reason he's standing."

"You shouldn't have come, Kyrano," Jeff said.

"Never mind that now, Father, what are we going to _do_?"

The creature that had once been Ben snarled and sounded like it was trying to yell. Without warning it leapt forward inhumanly, headed directly for Kyrano. Gordon let out a banshee cry and ran to intercept while John pushed Kyrano out of the way.

"Glad to see you made it," John said, holding out his hand to help Kyrano back to his feet.

"Likewise," he replied, leaping up like a cat.

Jeff had joined Gordon, soon followed by Scott and John. They were trying their best to hold Ben down in spite of the god-awful stench that surrounded him. But as hard as they fought, all the harder did Belah Gaat within the body of Ben fight, until such point as Jeff and Scott were thrown back into the pile of debris Brains and John had hidden behind earlier. John himself was tossed backwards and landed atop Kyrano, while Gordon managed to stay on Ben's back as he rose to his feet. He had him in a chokehold but quickly realized it wouldn't help since dead men don't need to breathe.

Ben whirled and grabbed Gordon's legs, pulling and twisting him until it was simply too much for his back and he cried out.

"No!" Virgil yelled, suddenly remembering what Tin-Tin had given him. He reached down to his belt loop and found the object.

_It holds centuries of my family's power._

He unsheathed the keris and held it over his right shoulder, aiming quickly.

_If you run out of opti__ons, this will see you through._

A flick of Virgil's wrist and the keris left his hand, sailing straight and true across the room. Just as Belah-in-Ben dropped Gordon to the floor, he pivoted. He saw the weapon the second before it hit his right eye and sank home.

"Back!" Kyrano cried, moving to push everyone away from Ben.

"Good _shot_, Virgil!" Scott crowed.

Jeff ran forward, grabbed Gordon by the hands, and hauled him back out of the way. "Son, are you all right?"

"Gonna…need…fucking…traction," Gordon ground out. Brains rushed to his side and felt along his back, then grabbed his hand while they all watched Ben.

Ben let out what would have been a cry of pure agony had his vocal cords functioning. Suddenly sparks began to fly from where the keris was embedded in his eye.

"What's going _on_?" Scott barked.

"That is my daughter's weapon?" Kyrano asked.

"Yes," Virgil nodded. "She gave it to me when Scott and I came over to find you."

Kyrano stopped and turned to face Ben full-on. He held his hands together in front of him palm-to-palm and began whispering in Melayu.

"What's he doing?" Brains asked.

"I think he's saying good-bye to his brother," Virgil replied. "That must be some powerful weapon."

"Boys, get Gordon back to Tracy Island on the double," Jeff said.

"Dad, I can't leave. We still don't have the other IDT!" John protested.

"I'll handle it, son," Jeff said. When John opened his mouth to protest, his father laid a hand on his arm. "You have just two now, John. You need to protect that." He looked over to where Kyrano whispered the last of his prayer just as Ben's body fell to the ground. "And I need to protect mine."

John looked at Ben, then at Kyrano, who was now looking at Jeff. His eyes went back to his father's. "Okay, Dad," he said with a small smile.

"I'll use the other IDT to get Kyrano home once we find it."

John nodded. "Be careful."

Jeff grinned. "You too, son."

Scott quickly opened a portal. He and Virgil carefully carried Gordon through it. John took Brains' hand and with one last look back at Jeff and Kyrano, they too, went through. The portal winked out, leaving the room in complete darkness.

Jeff turned on his wrist light and watched as Kyrano came to stand next to him. "What about him?" he asked, nodding to where Ben lay motionless on the floor. "Is there any chance Gaat's soul can get into either of us?"

"No," Kyrano said. "He truly is gone this time."

"As is Ben," Jeff sighed.

He looked up as Kyrano laid a hand on his forearm. "Let's go home, Jeff."

"But the other IDT. I promised John I'd get it for him."

"No need to search," Kyrano said, moving to Ben's body.

"Kyrano, no, don't touch him!"

"Don't worry," Kyrano said. "I told you, he's gone."

Jeff's every muscle tensed as Kyrano reached down, pulled Ben's sleeve back and unfastened what was on his arm. "He had the IDT?"

"Yes," Kyrano stated as he rose with it in his hand. "And if we had not stopped him, he would have returned to our dimension with nothing but revenge in his heart."

"Then thank God he didn't."

Kyrano returned to Jeff and held the IDT out. Taking it, Jeff held it in his hand for a moment. His thoughts darkened as he imagined how it must have been for the son who called him Dad, but wasn't really his son, to die the way Kyrano had explained it happened within the stasis chamber.

Then his mind turned to Manhattan, to how all of this had started with the deaths of so many of Tracy Corp's employees. To Virgil, who'd had to be in this dimension and had only the sultan to turn to for help. To what Gaat had done in raping Adi, the resulting pregnancy and premature birth causing her death. Then his mind turned to what Kyrano had told him during their joining; about how everyone was supposed to die when they were supposed to die, period.

"I still can't accept it, Kyrano," he said softly, eyeing the IDT he held in his hands.

"I know, Jeff. It's a difficult concept. If taken the wrong way, it can make us feel hopeless."

"Yeah," Jeff nodded, then looked up. "Come on, I don't want to be down here anymore."

Nodding once, Kyrano followed him to the hole that would lead them above-ground. "Jeff," he said as he helped pull him up to the surface.

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't my time to die."

"You're only saying that because you lived," Jeff said, waving it off as he started for the beach.

"No," Kyrano insisted, following only two steps behind. "I'm saying that because it's true."

"So how come you know that now but you didn't know it back when you wanted me to let you die?" Jeff asked as he skittered down the pile of rubble and jumped the remaining foot to the sand. He reached up to take Kyrano's hands and help him jump down.

When Kyrano landed, he was standing right in front of Jeff. "I knew it then," he said softly. "But it had to be your choice."

"What did?"

"This," Kyrano said, squeezing his hands and bringing both pairs up between their chests. "So thank you."

Jeff swallowed hard. "You're welcome," he said, his voice low and gruff. "Now come on, we've got to pick Tin-Tin and Alan up and get them back home."

"Home," Kyrano said. "Perhaps for the last time."

Jeff looked sharply at his friend, but didn't feel like getting into whatever it was he'd meant.

Kyrano just smiled as Jeff strapped the IDT on his arm. "Last time," he echoed, only for a whole different reason. He keyed in their destination and reached out. "Meor?"

He took the hand of his best friend…and indeed now something very much more. Their eyes locked and in that moment, Kyrano knew everything really _was_ okay for him and Jeff Tracy. For them, for their families and now that Belah Gaat was truly gone, for the world.

In _both_ dimensions.

_Akhir_

_(The End)_


End file.
